Bright Skies Under Darkness
by Metallic Soul
Summary: Set after Assault, another fox has appeared, he says he will help Team Star Fox defeat this new enemy, but he has a secret. Rating is at T for violence, some coarse language, and a few suggestive themes.
1. Chapter 1

Star Fox: Bright Skies Under Darkness

_**Author's Note: This story is set a few years after Assault, before Command. I would appreciate any helpful and contructive critisism and I'll probably need it considering this is my first story, so just try not to be too harsh with the reviews, and please, no flames. I do not own any Star Fox characters, Nintendo does, however, all original characters belong to me.**_

* * *

Chapter One

Somewhere on an unknown planet, stood three cloaked figures in a rather large room lit only by a few candles here and there, some would even say it was a ritual room of some sorts, since the four blood red walls and floor all bore an interesting logo, a white octagon merged with a six-sided star, nothing else was visible in the room unless you happened to be standing close to it.

"Soon our plan will be set into action." Said one of the cloaked figures, it's voice was raspy and cold enough to send a shiver down even the mightiest warrior's spine.

"And we will finally be able to take over the entire Lylat System." Another cloaked figure said, this one with a deep, gruff voice, and could not be taken lightly as it was massive in height and width.

"Yes but there is still one problem that remains unsolved." Stated the third cloaked member, this hood had a female voice behind it, but deeper than most female voices.

"We will take care of this minor problem in due time." The first cloak spoke back.

"You seem to underestimate him, why is this?" Asked the third hooded member.

"I am not underestimating him, I am simply stating the inevitable." Though it could not be seen through the cloak, one could tell that behind the hood was an evil smile.

"So, when is this 'plan' of yours supposed to take effect?" Asked the second, clearly irritated for some reason.

"Soon enough my friend, soon enough." The large cloaked animal let out a low growl as the three turned and headed separate directions, "Soon we will test your reputation as 'Hero of Lylat', Fox McCloud." An evil snicker coming from the hood.

* * *

9:30 A.M.

Meanwhile on the Great Fox II, as the team was orbiting Corneria, all members of Star Fox grew more and more aggravated with each passing day, having received no work in half a year. Their last job was simply to retrieve a small package that was stolen from a cargo ship by some thugs on Tanania and bring it to Corneria, needless to say they were never informed on what was in the package, just that it was important, they had only been paid so much for doing so. Peppy had retired and settled down in a house on Corneria, even though he could still be a force to reckon with in an Arwing. The team had a good amount of money left over from the Apparoid incident and the mission on Sauria, but they still had to eat and refuel the Great Fox II as well as the Arwings. They needed a job as soon as possible since money was an issue.

"I'm tellin' ya Slip, something is wrong with the G-Diffuser again." Fox was complaining as he always did about the G-Diffuser even though when Slippy checked, it worked fine. Fox wore a black tee-shirt baring the Star Fox logo, grey baggy cargo pants, and his usual combat boots with his white vest nearby on the chair that Krystal was sitting in, ready at any time for a call to come through hoping it was for a job, even if it was highly unlikely.

"There isn't anything wrong Fox, there's never anything wrong with it, YOU'RE THE PROBLEM!" Slippy yelled as he was extremely angry at the fact that Fox never new what he was talking about when it came to mechanical engineering even when he tried acting like he did. Slippy was in his usual grey shirt, yellow jacket, blue-jeans, and sneakers, of course with his small red cap on his head that he seemed to never take off.

"I don't know about that, I felt kind of a sick feeling in my gut when I left Corneria." The vulpine stated while putting his paws to his stomach.

"It's always the same with you Fox, if you feel something different when entering or exiting a planet, you always blame the G-Diffuser! If it didn't work then the atmosphere would RIP YOU TO PIECES!" Slippy yelled once again but this time it was much louder.

"Fox could you please stop arguing with Slippy, I'm starting to get a headache." Krystal said in somewhat of a pleading tone as she leaned her head to her left on her paw, looking at the stars, "Besides, you probably had an upset stomach, I know for a fact you didn't each much before you came back." Stated Fox's engaged lover, the blue-furred vixen decided to wear a pink tank-top as she thought it went well with her fur, white short shorts that only went three inches down her thigh, and no shoes or socks seeing as how she wasn't expecting any calls for work, she certainly didn't care if her clothes were too revealing considering the fact that the only clothing the vixen wore before she was with the team was a loin cloth, a top which barely covered her breasts, and a pair of sandals so it wasn't much different, she felt more comfortable in this rather than her battle suit.

"Wha?...How did you?" The surprised red vulpine asked before he remembered,"Oh that's right...telepath duh." His surprised face turned into a smile as he stared at the blue vixen, wagging his tail slowly at the sight of her

"Exactly." Krystal looked at Fox with victorious smile.

"You know, it never ceases to amaze me when you read my mind me even though I always see it coming."

"I know, that's why I love seeing your face afterwards." She replied as she reached over and pinched the red fox's cheek as if she was talking to an infant, "It's so cute."

The vulpine closed his eyes, _"That's Krystal for you, always messing around in my head, if it wasn't for the lack of clothing she had on when I saw her, I wouldn't have let her join the team." _He thought jokingly to himself. As he opened his eyes he saw the vixen glaring at him.

"I heard that." The blue fox had somewhat of a demonic tone in her voice as those luscious blue eyes that scowled at the vulpine sent shivers down his spine.

"I uh...damn...uh sorry?" He closed his eyes and tensed up as he saw Krystal clench her fist shut, knowing of the pain that was inevitable.

Krystal burst into laughter, "Oh my Goddess Fox, that look is priceless!" He stared at her, dumbfounded, "You actually thought that I was going to hit you?" Her laughter settled down a little, "I just wanted to see that look on your face again."

"You know you have a pretty cruel sense of humor." His tensed muscles loosened up, "That's not nice to play me like that." He started to say something else, but was cut off by a kiss from the furry blue vixen.

She pulled away, "I'm sorry, I just had to see that adorable face again." her laughter sub-sided as she gave the red fox a peck on the cheek.

"Oh please you two, not on the bridge," Falco said lying on his back on the black sofa, "It's bad enough that we ain't got any work, the last thing we need is you two mixing it up here." Falco was just as annoyed as the rest of the team that no jobs were called in, the blue avian just didn't suppress it as well as the others, Falco was wearing a pure-white muscle shirt, a pair of dark blue athletic shorts that went a little past his knees, and a simple pair of black sneakers as he expected the same that Krystal had.

"C'mon Falco don't be such a hard ass," Insisted Fox as he smiled at the avian, "Lighten up a bit, we'll get a call soon."

"Yea but still, no going in to a wild make-out frenzy in here while I'm resting my eyes, I don't wanna have to wake up to two foxes scarring me for life." He said as he closed his eyes.

"Whatever you say pal." The vulpine knew that was Falco's excuse for going to sleep, in a few short minutes, he'd be out like a light.

_"Well at least there's some life on this damn ship" _Falco thought as he slowly drifted away into a deep slumber, until...

He felt a certain blue fox land on his stomach with her rear-end resulting in a loud 'OOF' from his beak, "You're right Falco, there is some life on this ship, and you're going to join the party." she giggled as the blue avian was still recovering from Krystal's sudden departure onto his unready abdomen. She leaned in towards his ear and whispered seductively, "Fox doesn't know it, but I have a little bit of a crush on you." He couldn't tell if she was toying with him or being serious, "I was hoping that maybe you and I could get together and see what else lies under all those feathers." She winked at him with that last bit, Fox was watching with a serious look on his face, Falco new that the vulpine had heard every word and panicked, he didn't know what to do, but almost as suddenly as the vixen had plopped down on him, Krystal suddenly burst into a laughing fit once again, as did Fox. Slippy's chuckling almost gave it away before-hand, but luckily fox had kept him quiet while the blue vixen did her part.

"And you thought I looked funny." Tears forming in the vulpine's eyes.

Slippy was now in a chair laughing hysterically as well.

Falco's look of confusion was now replaced by extreme embarrassment, the sides of his face starting to turn purple as the red from his face mixed with his blue feathers.

Krystal had fallen off out her 'seat' and was now on the floor laughing hysterically, "FOX HAHA I HAHAHAHAHA!" The vixen couldn't even get any straight words out of her mouth as she was laughing too hard to say anything.

"That's...sick...and wrong...and you all know it." Falco said as he was staring up at the ceiling as he had done so ever since the three had started laughing.

"What, you don't think Krystal's cute?" Fox asked in a jokingly tone.

"Well...I'm not gonna say." Falco said as his face was still purple with embarassment.

"Ah, c'mon Falco, you know you like her." The vulpine said as Falco's face turned a deeper purple resulting in even more hysterical laughter, they all knew that Falco didn't have any sexual feelings for Krystal but they still found it funny to mess with his head. No one found this funnier than Krystal though, seeing as how her laughter could clearly be heard over the other two.

When the three had finally decided to stop after a good fifteen minutes, still lying on the floor, Krystal started, "Fox, that was the...best...idea...ever." As she was trying to catch her breath, Falco turned his gaze from the ceiling to Fox.

"I agree 100 percent." Slippy was now almost upside-down from laughing so much.

"You thought this up?" The blue avian asked Fox in disbelief.

"Yea, pretty funny huh?" The vulpine chuckled.

"More like pretty sadistic if you ask me." as Falco's face slowly turned back to the normal blue color it was before, he muttered, "Bastard."

Oh c'mon Falco, it was funny and you know it." The vixen cut in with a smile.

"It was wrong, sick, and not cool man." Falco seemed to be taking this seriously.

Okay then, let's take a poll, Slippy, was it funny? Yes or no?" Fox asked with a big grin on his face.

"You bet it was." Slippy cheered.

"Alright, Krystal," He said turning to the vixen, "Was it--"

"Yes it was." She said, cutting the red vulpine off.

"And I think it was funny so...Falco?" Fox asked, expectantly.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"Well, was it funny or not?"

Falco thought for a moment, gathering himself, "Okay, okay, you got me." The avian said with a chuckle.

It was now 10:05 A.M., then, all of a sudden out of nowhere, "There is a call coming from Corneria." ROB said in his monotone voice.

A mixed look of surprise and happiness showed on everyone's face, "Patch it through." Fox managed to say even though he was in shock.

Even more surprise filled the room when it was Peppy's face that had appeared on the hologram, "Fox, you and the others need to get down here NOW!"

"Peppy?" The red vulpine asked still in disbelief, no one team was expecting any calls, especially from Peppy.

"Yes Fox, it's Peppy," The hare confirming Fox's question, "There's no time to waste, we are under attack!"

"Attack? From who?" The vulpine's face quickly turned from surprised to serious.

"See for yourself." Peppy showed the team the image of Corneria being attacked by ground forces and battle cruisers, dismantling the city.

This caused Fox's blood to boil with anger, _"No," _He thought to himself. Corneria had just been fully repaired recently, and now these unknown forces were going to destroy it again, _"I won't let this happen, not again!" _The red vulpine's face showed complete hatred as the sight of his home being attacked was more than enough to fuel his rage.

Krystal read his mind of course, and showed concern for the vulpine she loved.

"We'll be there soon, Fox out." He stated, with that, the vulpine ended the transmission, "Star Fox Team," He said with determination, "Get dressed and geared up as quickly as possible, we have a home to defend."

* * *

_**Author's Note: I hope I did a good job, sorry that there's not really any action here, I'll try to get to that part in chapter two. So if it sucked, let me have it, and if not...sweet. Until my next update, later.**_

_**-Metallic Soul**_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

10:05 A.M.

Meanwhile, on Corneria, a large battle ensued throughout the city, Corneria was losing the battle as it was caught by surprise by the opposing force, and the Cornerian military could only send a small group of twenty-five soldiers to the East side as the rest of the forces were covering the West, South, and North sides, only twelve were left of the group since the assault on Corneria.

"We can't hold out much longer!" Screamed one soldier as he was taking cover behind the small barricade, "We need reinforcements now!" He yelled while smashing a purple and black clad enemy soldier who started to climb over the barricade in the face, smashing the visor of his helmet with the butt of his rifle.

"They can't send reinforcements until the other sides have calmed down!" A black avian screamed.

"We can't hold out for that long! We'll be overrun within five minutes at the most!" The light-brown husky yelled back.

Stationed on the rooftops were snipers but only two remained of the four since the onslaught started, one of the snipers ripped through three enemy soldiers with one charged red laser shot, "We aren't gonna last long like this!" One of the snipers said as she fired another shot that found it's mark on the head of an enemy. The light orange female fox noticed an enemy soldier with a rocket launcher aimed at where the other sniper was stationed, "Hax get out of there!" as she said this she saw a dark blood red image flash by and rip through the soldier who was hoisting the rocket launcher, "Nice shot."

"It wasn't me Zivia." The dark grey wolf assured her.

"Then...what was it?" Right as she spoke, another red flash came and slashed through more enemy ground soldiers, "There it is again!" Zivia yelled, surprised.

More blood red flashes started to tear through enemy lines, cutting the hordes of soldiers down to small groups, "Is it hostile? Do we shoot it?" Hax wasn't sure what to do.

"Let's just take the help while we can," Zivia replied, "I'd like to see what this thing is after this battle is over."

Back on the ground, "Look, they're falling back! We won!" Exclaimed the black avian as the purple and black enemies retreated.

"It seems as though we have." The Sergeant replied, he was in awe of this unknown assailant.

When the battle was over, and no more enemies were within the area, what was left of the small group came out of hiding to see what had defeated the opposing force so easily.

There, on the battlefield, was a small figure slowly approaching the Cornerian group of soldiers, as it came into view, it could be seen that the unknown assailant was a fox, it's fur a dark red color, it couldn't be certain if this was the fox's natural color, or simply the fur stained in the blood of the many soldiers who this mysterious fox had slaughtered, the fox was young, and had a large black 'X' on his forehead, overlapping his eyes, black also covered the tip of the fox's tail. The mysterious fox was dressed in simple attire, a dark grey tank-top, which was covered in blood, baggy black cargo pants, and a simple pair of sneaker.. As the fox drew within a few feet of the group, some aimed their weapons at it, not sure whether to fire or not, "Stand down." The Sergeant ordered, the soldiers did as they were told.

"State your name." He ordered.

The fox said nothing.

"State your name now!" He said louder, almost yelling, clearly annoyed that the fox wouldn't comply with his wishes.

"You first." Came a young male voice.

"Sergant Alexander McKowlsky, now what is your name dammit!"

There was a brief silence until the young vulpine spoke up, "Call me," there was a brief silence, "Cross." As blood was dripping from his black claws, thus confirming how the enemies were torn apart

"Okay 'Cross', what is your purpose here?"

"Well, I got tired of watching you guys get your asses kicked, so I stepped in." He replied with a smirk.

The husky glared at the young vulpine, suddenly, a voice was heard on the communicator, "We need assistance on the West side of the city! Enemy troops are moving in fast!"

"Alright everyone, let's move out, Cross, your coming with us." He said as he and the rest of the group turned around.

"No thanks, I'll take my own way."

"And what way would that be?" As the Sergeant turned back around to face the vulpine, the vulpine was gone.

* * *

10:10 A.M.

Up on the Great Fox II, each member of the team was getting prepared to go to Corneria, Fox had his blaster, his father's combat knife, and four grenades, _"This is all I'll need."_ He thought to himself as he was the first one ready to fight.

Krystal was changing into her battle suit, "Of course," she complained, "The only time when I'm not ready we get a call for a fight." She heard a knock on her door, sensing already who it was, "Come in, Fox." She said while quickly putting her suit on.

As the vulpine entered, "So are you ready yet?"

"Yes, now all I need is my staff." She said while putting on her boots.

"You mean this?" He handed the vixen her staff to save her the trouble of looking for it, "We need to go, Slippy and Falco are probably wondering what's taking so long.

When the two foxes left the room, they found Slippy and Falco outside the door, "What took you so long?" Asked Slippy.

"See I told ya." Fox whispered to Krystal

"Gettin' a little pre-fight warm-up are we?" Falco said with a cocky smile.

"More of a warm-up than you'll ever have." Said the vixen, returning with a cocky smile of her own.

"Well just be sure to keep that kinda stuff yourselves, I don't need any images of stuff I don't wanna see."

"Okay, enough chit-chat, we need to go." The red fox cut in.

The team went to the docking bay, and got in their Arwings.

"Slippy, you cover the South, Falco, you go North, Krystal and I will be on the ground, in the West part of the city, you all got that?"

"Affirmative." Slippy replied

"No prob." Falco replied with a grin, the avian actually prefurred fighting in the air anyway.

"No complaints here, my staff will work nicely." Krystal stated with a voice of confidence.

"Okay then, ROB, open the doors." Ordered the vulpine as he closed his cockpit.

"Affirmative," ROB said as the docking bay doors opened, "ready to launch."

The four members shot out of the Great Fox II, Fox was pulled back into his seat as the the team took off towards Corneria.

When the team got through the atmosphere, they could see that the city was in desperate need of assistance. As they dropped down further into the city, Fox and Krystal went further down than Falco and Slippy, who were shooting at enemy fighters. Fox and Krystal blasted through the opposing forces and found a safe landing space, unfortunately, the enemy was between them and the Cornerian military. As the two foxes got out of their Arwings, they immediately took cover behind a garbage dumpster as a small group of six enemy troops saw the two touch down and started to open fire on them, "Damn, don't we ever catch a break?" Fox complained while pulling his blaster out and firing a few quick shots at the group, he heard one scream in pain, confirming that he hit one of them, "Well, if there was anyone I would be hiding behind a dumpster with in a battle, I'm glad it's you Krystal." Fox said while firing a few more quick shots.

"Why thank you Fox, after all, it's not everyday you get to shoot at others while being with your fiance." The vixen said while firing a flame shot from her staff, hitting an unlucky soldier in the face, ripping into his head.

Now, with four opposing soldiers still firing at them, Fox needed to think something up, which he did, "Krys, I have a plan," The vixen looked at him curious as to what this plan was, "I'm gonna run over to that wall and take cover, and while those guys are firing at me, I want you to get close enough and use your freeze magic on them." Even though this was a well thought out plan, the blue fox didn't like that Fox was going to put his body right in the line of fire.

"There's got to be another way." Krystal told him as she was concerned that something would go wrong.

"This is the only way, Krys," The light red vulpine said in a comforting tone, "Trust me on this."

Kristal thought for a brief second, "Okay Fox, just try not to get hurt."

"Don't worry, I got this covered." And with that, the fox shot out from behind the dumpster, his plan working exactly how he explained it would, all four enemy soldiers open fired on the vulpine, not one laser shot hitting him, however, right before he reached his destination, a shot of pain went don his left leg, luckily he made it to the wall just in time, if he'd been any further from it, the laser fire would have surely ripped Lylat's hero apart. He looked at his leg, which was bleeding profusely, the wound wasn't too deep, but the laser had hit a vein, thus the large amount of blood flowing out of it, as the orange-ish fox, looked up, the blue furred vixen had started to do her part in the plan while the soldiers were distracted and now firing on the wall that the vulpine had taken cover behind. Krystal came out from behind the dumpster, activating her energy shield from her staff in the process, and ran at the four enemies without hesitation, the soldiers saw the vixen coming at them and reacted, but they were too late as she quickly disabled the energy shield and froze the four where they stood, as soon as she froze them, she made a horizontal swipe at them all with her staff, breaking the frozen soldiers in half, sending them crumbling to the ground.

Fox came out from his cover and limped over to where the vixen stood. "See, nothin' went wrong," The vulpine said as he glanced down at his leg and back at the vixen, "Well, nothin' too bad anyway."

"There's a line between bravery and stupidity Fox," Krystal stated while looking at his leg, "I think you just met that."

"Well that's why you like me, isn't it?" The red fox said with a sly smile.

"That, and other reasons." The vixen said, returning the smile, right after she said this, an armored vehicle had set its sights on the duo. When the two realized this, they dove in separate directions just as the vehicle had shot a large beam of yellow light at them, leaving a large hole at where the foxes had previously been standing, if they had not moved a second later, they would have been completely vaporized, Krystal had found her way to some small cover behind a trash can while Fox was not as fortunate, no amount of cover was in sight, and if the vulpine would have been able to make to where Krystal was, a shot like the one that tore a hole into the ground would, without a doubt, completely destroy the trash can as well as the two lovers, just then, as the armored vehicle was about to destroy Fox, two beams of blue light shot down on the vehicle, exploding it into several pieces.

"Why do I always have to save your ass?" A certain avian asked rhetorically over the communicator, he trailed behind the two foxes for he had a feeling that they would be in of need assistance, luckily his hunch was correct.

"Thanks buddy, I owe you one." The vulpine said, he was grateful that Falco had shown up in the nick of time.

"You seem to be owe me a lot lately." Falco said arrogantly.

"Yea well you just stay up in the air and try not to get shot down." Fox replied with cockiness of his own.

"You say that like I'm a rookie."

"Alright, we're okay down here, you need to head North so you can help out over there."

"Be careful Fox, I don't wanna find out that I saved you for nothin'." And with that, Falco's Arwing took off towards Northbound.

The duo of foxes made their way towards the enemy, trying not to attract any unwanted attention, as they did this, Fox spotted a narrow alley, "Hey Krys, look at this, we can go back here and hopefully make it to the guys on our side." He said as they entered the alleyway.

As the two had turned a corner, they saw two purple and black armored enemies, apparently they had found the entrance to the alley as well, and it looked as if they were getting ready to ambush the Cornerian soldiers. Fox and Krystal hid in the shadows as the soldier on the left turned around thinking he heard something, fortunately, the foxes had disappeared before he had a chance to notice them. Fox came out from the shadows, silently approaching the two unsuspecting soldiers, even though the fox's leg had been badly damaged, he was still silent as the night, pulling his blaster from its holster with his left paw, holding his father's combat knife in his right. Krystal was waiting in the darkness, ready to assist the vulpine in dispatching the soldiers if needed. Fox was standing directly behind the left enemy, ready to strike. The vulpine grabbed the soldier, sliding the blade into the small opening between the helmet and the chest armor, slitting the soldiers neck, the other enemy's reaction wasn't quick enough, as a charge shot was sent right into his visor, leaving a hole in the unlucky soldier's head.

"Wait there Krys, I'll go check if it's safe," Fox said as he limped over to the other corner and around it, Krystal had come out of the shadows since Fox had so easily taken out the soldiers, "It's all clear," The vulpine said when he came back, "We lucked out, the Cornerian military is right around that corner," He said pointing to the corner of the alley way that he had just rounded, "We can help them hold off the enemy over there, it seems that the West part of the city has been hit the hardest, 'cause the military isn't holding up too well."

"That's why Team Star Fox is here." The cerulean vixen said confidently.

"Yes it is," Replied the light red vulpine as he smiled at Krystal, "Okay, we should get going."

The two walked, or rather, one walked while the other one limped around the corner to the other side of the alley. It could be seen that the military was having an extremely hard time holding off the opposing force.

When the duo reached their destination, they quickly took cover behind a barricade next to another figure who was also taking cover while reloading his rifle.

"Bill?" Fox and Krystal asked in unison.

"Fox? Krystal?" The grey husky replied with the same surprised expression that Fox and Krystal had on their faces.

"I thought you were on Katina." Krystal said, still surprised to see Bill.

"Yea but I decided to come here for a while to talk with Pepper, sad to say that I never got the chance seeing that the city was attacked not ten minutes after I landed." Bill said in an aggravated tone.

"What are the chances of that," Fox stated while pulling his blaster to fire a few blind shots, "Talk about coincidence." He chuckled.

"Yea well, anyway, what are you guys doin' here?" The canine asked while peeking his head out to fire a laser shot from his rifle.

"Peppy called us." The red vulpine replied.

"Oh really, well, this is nice catchin' up with you but I'm really starting to get pissed off." The husky said while firing some more shots over the barricade.

"Yea I know what you mean," Fox said while tossing a grenade behind him over the barricade, the explosion was followed by many screams of agony, "I wish something would just come out of nowhere and give us an edge here." Just as he said this, a dark red flash rushed past them seemingly at the speed of light, "What the hell was that!?" The vulpine yelled, shocked and confused.

"Whatever it is, it's helping us!" Exclaimed the husky, ecstatic at the fact that this red flash was completely destroying purple and black clad soldiers, along with armored vehicles.

Krystal was silent, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate to see if this spark of red had any brainwaves, which was hard to do, considering all of the soldiers and enemies that were there, she concentrated harder and focused on the flash, she could sense something for a brief second until she was blocked from the mind of this assailant. All she sensed was, _"Kill."_ And nothing else.

As the destruction was unfolding right before his eyes, Fox caught a small image of the figure, all he saw was a glimpse of a dark red tail with black covering at the end of it.

Just then, over the communicator, "Falco here, we got this side all locked up," Came the avian's voice with a hint of static, "You guys holdin' up okay?"

Before Fox could answer, "Slippy here, I don't know what just happened but apparently we won." Slippy said as if he was in shock, "So, what's going on over there?"

The enemy had started to retreat, still taking the full effect of the onslaught from this mysterious red flash, "Fox here, area secure." The vulpine said, still not believing what he was witnessing.

As nothing was left of the seemingly endless enemy force, when the dust settled, a dark red fox with a black X shape on his forehead, overlapping his eyes, the fox had a calm face with a furious look in his eyes, while blod dripped from his claws, a slight sirk came across the vulpine's face as he looked at the shock mixed with confusion on everyone's face, "Why hello there."

* * *

_****_

Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter was badly written, I'm new at this, so once again, no flames, but leave a review if you like it or not, and if you don't like it, then okay. Until my next update, bobblywobblyhoopdejoop...later.

_**-Metallic Soul**_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

11:45 A.M.

While the soldiers stood in awe of the spectacle they had just witnessed, Fox limped towards the dark red vulpine, with his paw on the grip of his blaster as he wasn't sure if the mysterious figure was friendly or hostile. "Who, or what, are you?" He asked.

"Well, as to who I am, you can call me Cross," The dark red vulpine said, pointing to the black 'X' shape on his forehead, "As to what I am," He said turning his to look at his black tipped tail, "It looks like I'm an ordinary fox just like yourself." Turning his head back towards Fox with a sly grin and a voice similar to Fox's, but in a higher tone.

"No, I mean, what are you, like a government experiment or something? 'Cause I've never seen an 'ordinary fox' move like that." As Fox approached the dark red vulpine, he noticed that the assailant was much smaller than him as Fox was five feet, eight inches tall while as Cross was four feet, ten inches tall.

"I guess whatever helps you sleep at night, Fox McCloud" Cross answered, grinning arrogantly, showing his left fang.

It was no surprise that the vulpine knew Fox's name, considering the many times he had saved Lylat.

"Why did you help us?" Fox asked in a more serious tone.

"I saw that were having trouble, so I stepped in." He said while shrugging his shoulders. Fox kind of liked his attitude, sure Cross was a bit cocky, but at least he wasn't like Falco.

Krystal was digging into this newcomer's mind, as she was doing this, Cross turned his head and looked past Fox towards the blue furred vixen, "You can search my mind all you want, Krystal, it doesn't bother me, but all you're gonna find is everything I have already told you, I have nothing to hide. But keep searching around in there if you want, I assure you I can be trusted" Cross said while smiling at Krystal. This statement surprised Krystal, but she kept scoping around his mind, sure enough, nothing unknown was found inside the vulpine's head, so she stopped.

They were now just inches apart, face to face, or in Cross' case, face to neck as his bright yellow eyes were still fixed on the light brown-ish vulpine's face, "Say," Fox said while taking his paw off of the grip of his blaster, "You look younger up close, exactly how old are you?" He asked curiously.

"Fifteen."

"Fox almost fell back as if he were shot by a cannon in the chest, "What!?" He yelled in amazement, "No way, you're pullin' my leg right?" This caught Fox off-guard, he expected Cross to be young, just not fifteen years old.

"Nope, fifteen." Cross reassured Fox, who's jaw had dropped in hearing how young the dark red vulpine was.

Fox regained his composure, "Well Cross, thank you for helping us out, I'm grateful for that," He said as he extended his paw in a friendly manner.

Cross looked at the other vulpine's paw and gently pushed it away, then looked back at the vulpine's puzzled face, "No need to thank me, I was just doing what I was created to do, besides, I like this place."

"What do you mean by what you were creat--" Fox was interrupted by a high pitched voice over the communicator

"Hey Fox?" Said Slippy.

"What Slip?" The vulpine replied, startled.

"Did you happen to see, well...it's hard to explain but, did you by chance see some sort of red flash when you were fighting?"

"Hey I saw that too," Falco chimed in over the comm. link, "Some red thing came and sliced up a bunch of guys, I didn't even get a good look at it." As soon as Cross heard this he looked at Fox with a sinister grin.

"I think I've got an explanation, for you guys." Fox chuckled lightly.

"And what's that?" Falco asked curiously.

"It's better explained in person, trust me."

"Alright but this better be a damn good one." Falco said in an aggravated tone.

"Oh don't worry, it will." Fox said as he ended the conversation.

"I can't wait to meet the rest of Team Star Fox." Cross said while grinning, exposing his left fang yet again.

"Aww man we missed the party?" Said a voice from an approaching squad of twelve soldiers, "I was hopin' to blast one of those sorry bastards in the face, not fair!" The dark grey wolf sounded anxious for battle as the group walked up to the two vulpines, his entire face was black except for tips of his ears and muzzle which were white, his eyes were a dark brown, from a distance it would seem that they were black, but on closer inspection, the were indeed very, very dark brown.

"Oh like you didn't get enough fighting earlier, Hax?" Asked a light orange, almost yellow female fox, this one had a unique red stripe that ran down the center of her face, down past her muzzle, and disappeared into the neckline of her uniform, it would seem that this particular red stripe possibly went down her entire body because her paws had the same red stripe on them, running to her claws, the vixen had yellow eyes as bright as Solar itself.

"Well...I just wanted more, Ziv," The almost black lupine said with a smile, "Besides, you can't tell me that you didn't want more shots at 'em, right?"

"I think I've had enough near-death experiences for one day." The group laughed in unison for a moment, except for the grey husky leading them who had a serious look on his face.

As the group passed Fox and Cross, they each shook Fox's hand, giving thanks to him one at a time for his assistance, and glanced at Cross with similar cautious looks, except for Hax who simply gave them both high-fives, and Zivia, who gave Fox a long hug, they all made their way behind Fox to the other group where Krystal and Bill were standing, while one of the soldiers stopped at Fox to speak with him.

"Nice to know you're alright Alex," Cross said while looking up at the much taller husky who simply shot him a glance and then looked at Fox.

"I see you've met Cross, did he save you in the nick of time as well?" One grey husky with a large pure white dot on his forhead said.

"Yeah, and who are you?" Fox answered with his own question.

"Sergeant Alexander McKowlsky, and I already know who you are, there are important matters we must discuss with General Pepper."

"Yeah like who the hell we were just attacked by."

"Yes, as well as other topics." Alexander said while looking towards the dark red vulpine standing next to him.

"Right, then let's get going," Fox replied, then, turning to look at Cross, "I have some friends who I'm sure would love to meet you."

Alexander motioned for the soldiers to follow him, "I'm taking these soldiers back to the base to rest up, they deserve it, I'll meet you in Pepper's office."

"I'm gonna stay here with Fox," Cross cut in, "I can't wait to meet Falco, I bet he's a nice guy." The vulpine said as he walked back to where Krystal and Bill were standing.

Fox chuckled to himself, _"I hope you like surprises."_ He thought to himself as he turned to follow the dark vulpine.

As the two vulpines made it back to Krystal and Bill, "So, who's this kid?" The canine asked while he couldn't help but stare at the X marking on Cross' forehead.

"His name is Cross, he's coming with us to go talk with Pepper." Fox answered.

"Oh really? Are you sure we can trust him?" Bill asked with a slight glare at the dark red vulpine.

"Well I just saved you all from certain destruction, I think that's a pretty good reason." Cross looked at the husky with a similar grin, showing his left fang yet again.

"Good enough for me," Said Bill while he stretched his arms, "Anyway, I'll meet up with you guys in Pepper's office."

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Fox asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I have...stuff to attend to." Bill answered, turning his gaze to the ground

"Well okay then, we'll see you there."

Bill just nodded his head as he turned to follow in the direction that the soldiers had went.

* * *

12:15 P.M.

As the trio was walking down the alley in which they had used to get around the enemy forces earlier, Krystal had kept her eyes on this new vulpine to her left, as Fox was on her right, this "Cross" as his name was, she had some questions for this mysterious assailant who had helped them in their desperate time of need. So she spoke up, "Cross, I would like to ask you about a few things."

The dark fox sighed, "Everything I've told you is truth, no lies, no secrets, nothing."

"Yes but, how did you know about my telepathic abilities?"

"Easy, who doesn't know the famous Star Fox, it should be known by almost everyone by now that you're a telepath, why so surprised?"

"Because you seem to know a lot about Krystal but nothing about Falco." Fox cut in.

"What do you mean?"

"After the fight you said 'I bet Falco's a nice guy', what I'm saying is, you knew about Krystal's telepathy but not anything about Falco."

"Oh I get what you mean, you're talking about personality, I never said I knew anything about anybody's personality, All I know is common knowledge, like how Falco is the 'Ace Pilot' of Star Fox, and how Slippy is the mechanic, of course Krystal's telepathy, and I know how well of a marksman you are with your blaster. I never claimed once to know about personality, why is Falco not a nice guy?" Cross looked at Fox, expecting a clear answer.

"Well...uh...I, um..." Fox was searching for words but nothing came to mind.

"It's better in person, you'll see." Krystal said, saving Fox from the stare of the dark vulpine.

_"Wow, this kids smart, and he's only fifteen!"_ Fox thought to himself, amazed at the intelligence of the answer he was given.

"Well, I see you made nice work of these guys," Said Cross as they passed the two limp bodies on the ground, "They didn't stand a chance," He said again as he stopped to observe the two corpses that were once enemy soldiers, "Nice clean cut across the neck, poor soul never saw it coming, pretty deep too," He turned to the other body, this one with a hole in what used to be a head, "This guy, luckily for you, wasn't quick enough to pull the trigger, my guess, considering the size of the hole, is that you charged your blaster as you were setting up to take the other guy out, and as soon as he turned around, it was all over, quick and painless."

"Wow, you actually explained it exactly the way it happened, and you weren't even here! How could you tell?" Fox asked, awestruck once again that this extremely young vulpine knew this.

"Sorry, but when it comes to killing, it's really all I know," Cross answered, shrugging his shoulders, "Anything else is out of my range.

"Well that's a pretty damn good observation," Krystal said with the same amazed look that Fox had, "I don't think I could expain it that well, and I even saw what happened."

"Alright, we need to get back to the Arwings to put them in the docking bay." Fox assured the two.

As they rounded the corner that Fox and Krystal originally used to enter the alley way, Cross noticed many scattered pieces of half melted ice, "What's this?" He asked in a curious tone.

"Well, uh, long story short, a bunch of guys pissed Krystal off, so she killed them, and let's just leave it at that." Fox chuckled, looking at Krystal.

The three foxes made it back to the Arwings, "Fox checked everything as he always did before he hopped into the cockpit, Krystal was already in her Arwing. Fox looked at Cross, "So, you wanna ride with me, or Krystal?"

"I think I'll stay on ground for now, I have to go get a change of clothes and a shower anyway." The vulpine replied, looking at his used to be white, but now blood soaked tank top.

"Well hop in, I'll take you to where you live and we can be on our way." Fox tried to help Cross, but to no avail.

"I honestly would rather run, if you don't mind." The dark red fox assured them, "I'll meet you at the docking bay, then we can go see this 'Pepper' guy."

"Wait, you don't know General Pepper?" Fox was surprised, considering that Cross knew a lot about Fox and his team and nothing about the General.

"Nope, but I can't wait to meet him."

"Well okay then, we'll see you there." And then the two Arwings took off, leaving the young vulpine alone.

"I guess it's time to run." Immediately after this was said, a bolt of red was dashing through the streets, not touching a singal thing.

* * *

12:45 P.M.

"Well it's about time you two got here," A certain blue avian said as Fox and Krystal exited their Arwings, "What happened, did ya get bored and start playing 'close your eyes, claim your prize'?" Slippy started to chuckle.

"That's enough Falco, or are you still mad that we tricked you on the Great Fox?" The vulpine said with a grin.

"I still think that was a sick joke but anyway, where's this surprise you got for me?"

"Right here," Said a voice from directly behind Falco, causing him to jump foward while turning to face the voice, "Surprise."

Krystal was trying her best to keep herself from bursting into another laughing fit like the one she had on the Great Fox II.

"Who...the hell...is this?" Falco asked, startled and trying to catch his breath.

"Falco, Slippy, this is Cross a.k.a. the 'red flash' that took out all of those soldiers." Cross was now wearing a black tee-shirt with the words "Heavy is the only Metal I like" on the front of it, along with a pair of black baggy cargo shorts, and a pair of pure white sneakers.

"No way, you're kidding right?" Falco said, clearly not believing what Fox was telling him.

"Yeah, I rarely do this, but I agree with Falco, this is hardly believable Fox." Slippy added.

"It's completely true, no lies here." He assured them.

"There's no way this little thing could've done that, I mean just look at him, he can barely pull one of my feathers out," Falco stated moving within inches of the dark vulpine, "Actually, he's kinda cute, look how small he is." Falco chuckled.

"Piss me off and you'll see just how 'cute' I can be." Cross said, scowling up at the much taller animal.

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" The avian asked in a more serious tone.

"No...it's a promise."

And without warning, Falco shot his left arm at the vulpine's face, but Cross had this well scouted as he slapped the avian's fist away and swung his own left, Falco saw the dark red paw coming at his face and grabbed it with his right hand, but as soon as he did, Cross spun around with his back facing Falco, and placed his right paw near the avian's neck and brought one clawed finger to Falco's neck, "All it would take is one swipe, and you're a goner."

"That's enough you two!" Fox ordered.

Falco let go of Cross' wrist as Cross backed away slowly and said, "One," As he brought his paw up to his neck, index finger extended, "Swipe." He said making a cut throat motion while grinning.

"Alright we need to go out front, I bet that the guy I called is out there waiting for us up and we shouldn't keep him waiting so let's go."

Falco and Slippy just looked at Cross with the same jaw-dropped expression that Fox had earlier.

Sure enough, as the team, and Cross arrived outside, a black furred feline was standing right beside the black hover car, "I kept it running for you Mr. McCloud, just like you asked over the intercom." He said, handing the keys to Fox.

"Thanks Gordon," The vulpine said, taking the keys from the panther's paw, "But from now on, just call me Fox."

"Yes Fox, now if you'll excuse me I must be going, I can't keep my friend over there waiting for much longer." Gordon said, pointing to a tiger standing next to a dark-green hover car.

Alright, you take care now." Fox said as he entered the vehicle, as did the others, and with that, they were on their way to General Pepper's office.

* * *

_**Author's Note: Well, this certainly didn't have much action, but it's a filler chapter or whatever it's called to keep up with the story. Hope you liked it. Until the next update, beware of the cake, for it is a lie...later.**_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

1:00 P.M.

As the group cruised down the streets of Corneria to meet General Pepper in his office, there was much silence for the first fifteen minutes of the ride until Falco spoke up, "You got lucky Cross." He said, his arms folded.

"It was much more than luck Falco, _you _are the lucky one here." Cross said, looking out the window of the back seat.

"Oh really? And how exactly am I lucky?" Falco was now looking past Slippy at the dark vulpine.

"You still have your life." Cross answered while keeping a straight face, not even glancing towards the avian.

"So I underestimated you, big deal, that won't happen next time." Falco was very irritated at the lack of respect this young vulpine was showing him.

"Get over it Falco, he had you plain and simple, let's leave it at that." Fox ended the argument while keeping his eyes on the road in front of him.

"Yea whatever, he still got lucky," Falco sat back into his seat and folded his arms once again, "Bastard." He muttered under his breath.

"So Cross, does that X on your head symbolize something or is it natural?" Slippy asked.

Cross turned his gaze from the passing buildings to the mechanic, "Well, basically it means if you're on the battlefield, and on the other side, you're screwed." He answered, not even changing his facial expression.

"Then I'm glad you're with us," Krystal chimed in, turning her head to look at the dark fox, "Although I would like to spar with you some day, it would be fun." The vixen added while snapping a grin.

"What do you mean 'spar with me'?" The dark red vulpine asked with a confused look.

"You know, have a friendly fight but not a serious one, don't tell me you don't know what sparring is." The blue vixen answered.

"Actually I've never heard of this before, a friendly fight? How does one do such a thing?" Cross asked, still confused.

"Wait, you've never sparred with anyone before, have you?" Krystal was now turned completely around in her seat, looking at the fox with a raised eyebrow.

"No I haven't, every time I fight I aim to kill my opponent."

"Well then, we'll just have to teach you." Fox cut in, looking at Cross through the rear-view mirror of the black hover car.

"Sparring is not fighting from what you have told me, it seems pointless, why would anyone want to have a 'friendly' fight if it is clear that there is no winner?" Cross was getting tired of asking questions, but this 'sparring' as they called it interested him, he needed to know more.

"You don't always have to kill someone to win a fight, Cross" Fox answered, the dark red vulpine had no retort for this, instead he leaned his head on his right paw and turned back towards the window to look at the scenery, even if it was just a bunch of buildings stacked together.

* * *

1:15 P.M.

The group arrived at the building of which inside was the General's office, as they entered, they were greeted by a smiling female possum at the front desk with a few splotches of black here and there on her fur, "Hello Mr. McCloud, I'm guessing you're here to see the General, he's been expecting you for some time, fifty-third floor."

"Thanks Abby, I'd love to talk but we're kind of in a rush." Fox said, turning towards the hall where the elevator was.

"No problem, it's just nice to see you in one piece," She said while looking back at her computer screen, "I have a lot of work to do anyway."

The group made their way to the elevator, Fox leading them with Krystal by his side, "How did she not notice you Cross?" Fox asked.

"I don't know, I guess it's my height." The young vulpine answered.

"She noticed you, she was just informed ahead of time." Krystal said.

"So you read everyone's mind, huh?" Cross was beginning to enjoy being around this group, despite just meeting them a short time ago, they were extremely likable, he just couldn't figure out why.

"It's a valuable asset," Krystal replied with a slight smirk, "You'd be amazed at the information one can gather with telepathy."

"Oh it makes you look like an ass alright." Falco cut in, walking behind Krystal and Fox.

Fox tried his best to keep his laughter hidden, but to no avail as he and Slippy bursted out laughing almost in unison, this caused Krystal to elbow him directly in the ribs, normally it wouldn't hurt but she always found the most painful spot every single time, "I'm sorry Krystal but it's true, it does make you seem like an ass sometimes." Fox said, clutching his ribs.

"It does not!" Krystal almost yelled, elbowing him again in the same spot as before, but much harder as her elbow dug into his side deeply.

"What I meant was, I love you honey." Fox corrected himself, giving the vixen a peck on the cheek as he was now bent slightly forward, still holding his side.

"That's what I thought." Krystal said with a now victorious smile.

The group had arrived at the elevator, as everyone entered, "I'll take the stairs instead." Cross assured them while turning towards the door past the elevator that led to a staircase that.

"You sure about that? It's the fifty-third floor, that's a lot of walking." Fox informed him.

"Its okay, I don't really like elevators much." The dark vulpine turned his head to reply to him.

"Well suit yourself, if you wanna take the stairs I won't stop you." Fox said, turning to re-entering the elevator and pushing the buttons that read '5' and '3'.

While the team was in the elevator awaiting to reach the floor where General Pepper's office was, Falco started, "I don't know about this 'Cross' guy."

"What do you mean?" Fox asked, somewhat confused.

"There's somethin' about him that creeps me out." Falco had his eyes trained on the floor.

"Like what?" Fox quirked an eyebrow at the avian.

"Oh please Fox, you haven't noticed anything eerie about him?" Krystal cut in.

"Nothing aside from the 'X' on his head or the way he dealt with those soldiers, why, did you?" Fox was curious to know what the vixen saw in Cross that he didn't.

"What about the fact that he doesn't even know what sparring is?"

"Yea but--" Fox began to say before he was cut off.

"And when I got into that little fight with him, I could've sworn that his eyes turned red." Falco told the vulpine.

"What? No way, someone's eyes don't just turn red." Fox was having a hard time believing this.

"How do you know Fox? Did you even look at them?" Krystal asked.

"Well, I...um," The vulpine was struggling to find an excuse, "No." He answered.

"Exactly, we can't be sure about him until we know more." Krystal ended the conversation.

"When we get out of the elevator, I need to use the bathroom." Slippy broke his own silence as he hadn't said a word the entire ride, causing everyone else to laugh.

When the door opened Slippy was the first to exit as he rushed out towards the left and turned the corner a few feet away. Cross was already sitting beside the door to Pepper's office, "What took you?" He asked rhetorically as he started to stand up.

The group was surprised that Cross was already there, "How long ago did you get here?" Fox shared the same jaw-dropped expression that Krystal and Falco had.

"I'd say about thirty seconds after you got in the elevator," The dark vulpine answered, popping his trademark smirk, yet again exposing his left fang, "Why so surprised?"

"Well let's see, if I sprinted as fast as I could up that staircase, it would take me at least forty-five minutes to make it up here, and I'm not exactly slow." Fox was still amazed at what this vulpine was capable of.

"If it makes you feel any better, I ran as fast as I could," Cross assured him, still grinning, "So, do we stay here and wait for Slippy, or do we go in?"

"We should probably wait here, I have a feeling this will be very important, so we need everyone with us." Fox answered, walking to Cross and sitting beside him on the left of the door, Krystal did the same while Falco just stood on the right side of the door. Slippy returned and they entered the office.

The group noticed Bill and Sergeant Alexander were already sitting in front of the desk where General Pepper was, "I see everyone is here, but I don't quite have anything for you except one thing." Pepper spoke up not even ten seconds before the group had entered the room.

Fox sighed, "Well what is it?" He was irritated that they came all this way seemingly for nothing.

"All we have on our attackers is that they call themselves 'Doombringers' and they seem to have set their sights on Lylat for some reason because we have received calls from Katina and Tatania saying that they too were attacked, but they weren't hit with the amount of forces that we were." Pepper informed them all.

"So is that the only thng you have to tell us? Cause you could've told us that over the intercom." Fox sensed that there was more because the General wouldn't have called them all the way to his office unless it was something more than simple information.

"Well, there is one more thing." Pepper started.

"And that is?"

There was a short pause for a moment as Pepper hesitated, "Cross is going with you back to the Great Fox II." He finished.

"What! Are you out of your mind?!" Falco yelled, "We don't even know who this kid really is, let alone if we can even trust him!"

"Would you please stop yelling? I am standing right beside you." Cross said.

"And that's another thing, quit bein' so damn calm all the time, it's freakin' me out!" Falco yelled again.

"ENOUGH!!" Pepper yelled, "Cross is going with you and that's FINAL!!"

"No complaints here, I think he'll prove to be more than valuable to the team." Fox said.

"You too?" Falco looked at Fox, surprised, "I'm just surrounded by crazies ain't I?"

"C'mon Falco, lighten up." Fox said, infuriating the avian.

"Whatever, I'll be on the Great Fox." With that, Falco stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

"What's gotten into him?" Bill asked, confused.

"He's just mad 'cause he got into it with Cross and lost." Fox gave them the short version.

"Well, none the less," Pepper spoke up, "I will contact you on your first mission ASAP."

They all left the office and made their way to the elevator, Alexander and Bill stayed in the office to catch up with Pepper, and Cross decided to take the stairs again, so only Slippy, Krystal and Fox were in the elevator as it descended to the first floor, "I hope you know what you're doing, Fox" Krystal said, giving him a questioning look.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we can trust him, I mean he did save our lives after all." Fox replied.

"Yes but what if he's unstable?"

"You're being paranoid Krys, I'm sure nothing bad is gonna happen, he was normal on the ride over here wasn't he?"

"Normal?" Krystal raised an eyebrow.

"Well...normal enough anyway."

When the elevator reached the ground floor the trio stepped out to see Cross once again waiting for them, they weren't surprised this time, "I thought you guys would never make it down here." Cross joked.

"Oh so you have a sense of humor after all." Fox returned with a joke of his own.

"Doesn't everyone?" Cross was grinning yet again.

"That's true, now let's get going, it's been a long day and I think we all need some rest," Fox said, putting a paw on Cross' shoulder, "Welcome to the team."

They left the building with their new temporary team member and Fox dove them back to the docking bay, "Are we all ready to take off?" Fox asked as they walked to their individual Arwings.

"Yes." Slppy and Krystal answered in unison.

"Alright Cross, you're with me." Fox said, walking to his Arwing.

"Is there any other possible way we could do this?" Cross asked, hoping for the answere he wanted.

"What do you mean?" Fox asked, curious as to what the young vulpine meant.

"Well, I have this fear of flying." Cross said, a little embarrassed.

"_You _have a fear?" Fox asked, surprised.

"It's not so much flying as it is being inside something that moves."

"So that's why you took the stairs?" Fox was still surprised that this vulpine was frightened by something he did almost every day, "Wait, you didn't seem to care when we were in the car, how is flying much different?"

"It's more of a height thing, being in a hover car is okay, but I hate being high in the air." The dark vulpine who seemed to have no emotion was now completely embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, but there's no other way," Fox assured him, "But hey, I'm piloting, so nothing's gonna happen, you're in safe paws."

"Thanks." Cross said as he hesitantly made his way to the Arwing.

"It's okay, just hop in the back seat." Fox said as he was double checking to see if everything was functioning correctly.

Cross was shaking as he slowly climbed into the back seat of the cockpit, _"Alright Cross, this isn't anything at all, you basically took out an entire army by yourself, you can handle this no problem."_ He thought.

Fox climbed into the front seat and closed the cockpit hatch, "You're doing great Cross, now just sit back and relax," Fox said as he flipped the switches to ignite the engine, "All systems go."

The Arwing shot out of the docking bay as Fox and Cross both shot back into their seats, this was no problem for Fox, as he was used to this, Cross on the other hand, was not as calm as usual, "What's going on!?" He panicked.

"It's just the recoil from take off, nothing big." Fox comforted the young vulpine as best as he could.

As the Arwing entered the atmosphere, it started to shake, thus resulting in more panic from Cross, "Is something wrong?" He was panting heavily, eyes moving from side to side as his claws dug into the back of Fox's seat.

"It's turbulance, no big deal," he said calmly, "You're hyperventilating, slow your breathing and relax, it'll be over soon."

Cross did as he was told, and soon enough, the two vulpine's left the atmosphere of Corneria. Cross gasped at the sight of space, "It's...amazing." He said, looking at the stars, the grip of his claws loosening from their grasp on the back of the front seat. This was nothing to Fox, as he saw this sight many times before.

"And there it is Cross, the Great Fox II." Fox informed dark vulpine, pointing to the extremely large ship.

"Whoa, it's huge." Cross said, awestruck at this sight, he had never been in space before, or seen a ship for that matter.

_"It's funny, this kid is a warrior beyond all measures, and simple things that I see all the time have this effect on him." _Fox thought to himself as his Arwing neared the ship.

The Arwing docked on the Great Fox II, and as soon as Fox opened up the hatch, Cross leaped out of the cockpit, "I'm never doing that again." He exclaimed as he was on all fours looking at the ground.

"Well I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to eventually." Fox reminded the dark vulpine, who simply groaned.

"What's with him?" Falco asked, it seemed as though he was over his little tantrum he threw on Corneria.

"He's afraid of heights." Answered Krystal.

"How did, Fox stopped mid-sentence, "Never mind"

"Telepath, remember?" Krystal asked in rhetorical fashion as she pointed to her head.

"Aww, does the baby need his bottle?" Falco teased.

"C'mon Falco, don't be a jerk, it was his first time flying, and remember, he's only fifteen." Fox told him

"It's not my fault that he's a wimp." Falco shrugged his shoulders.

Just then, Cross lunged at the avian, hitting him with a right uppercut, the impact lifting Falco a few feet in the air, and then landing hard on the floor, Falco sat up, dazed for a second, "Aww, did the baby get a boo-boo?" Cross said, baring his fangs.

"Alright Cross, let's show you to your room, you need some rest." Fox said as he pulled the dark vulpine away from Falco.

"Just remember Falco," Cross said while shaking Fox's grip and raising a claw to his own neck, "Just. One. Swipe." He finished, making the same cut throat motion as he did earlier.

As the two vulpines were walking down the hall to the guest room, "You really need to get a handle on that temper of yours." Fox said.

"He started it." Cross replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yea he did, but you gotta know when to fold, you don't wanna make enemies with whoever you are living with," Fox put a paw on the dark vulpine's shoulder, "And Falco isn't such a bad guy, he's just high strung, you can't let him pull you into these things."

"I'll try to remember that," Cross looked up at the light brown vulpine, "How do you deal with all of this insanity."

"I guess I've learned to live with it, and you need to do the same, I don't want a broken jaw just in-case I piss you off," They stopped next to a door, "Here we are, it's not much, but at least you have a bed."

"Thanks, I need to get some rest after that experience." Cross told Fox.

"Well, get used to it, 'cause it's not the last time you're gonna fly." Fox put his paw on the scanner, resulting in the door opening.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Cross said as he entered the room. There was a bed, next to it was a desk.

"You'll get over it." Fox said as the door closed.

Cross didn't waste any time making his way to the bed, he didn't even take the time to remove any clothing because he was too exhausted from his flying expierience. As he lie down on the mattress, the vulpine thought about this group, he still couldn't figure out why they were so likable, a smile of happiness ran across his face, he didn't understand why this occurred, nor did he think about it, the vulpine just closed his eyes as he was taken away to the depths of slumber.

* * *

**_Author's Note: Wow, Cross has a pretty bad mean streak huh? Anyway, I know there wasn't much action here but I'll try to work some into the next update. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed my previous chapters, and apparently I have potential. So once again, thank you all. Until the next update, later and I hope you enjoyed._**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

5:30 P.M.

After Fox showed Cross to his room he decided to head to the bridge, when he got there he saw that Slippy was doing his daily system check on ROB, Krystal was sitting in Fox's chair while Falco was on the couch rubbing his beak, "How's your face?" Fox said to the avian with a smirk.

"Still better than yours." He replied to the vulpine with a smirk of his own.

Fox walked over to where Krystal was and kneeled down beside her, "So Krys, what do you think about our new friend?" He asked.

"Well, right now I'm wondering why Pepper wanted him to come with us in the first place," She turned to look at the vulpine, "I mean, doesn't it seem a little odd that he would send a complete stranger who we know nothing about or what he is to live with us?" She asked with a questioning look.

"Well, now that you mention it," Fox was now thinking about this himself, thanks to Krystal, "Yeah it does seem odd, I'll have to bring it up when he calls us for our mission."

"Whenever that is." Falco said, now lying down.

"I'm sure he'll call soon enough," Fox didn't take his emerald gaze off of Krystal even for a second, "In the mean time, why don't we all enjoy the peace we have for right now, I was hoping for a mission, I just wasn't expecting something this big."

"I heard that!" Slippy cheerfully said, heading for the door of the bridge.

"Where are you going?" Krystal asked.

"Back to my room of course, today has been extremely tough, and I plan to rest up as much as possible." He answered while the door closed as he left.

"Oh crap!" Fox yelled suddenly, making Krystal and Falco jump.

"What's wrong?" Krystal asked, shaken from the sudden outburst.

"I forgot to visit Peppy," Fox was disappointed in himself, "Damn, I'll need to remember to do that when we go back to Corneria."

"Well if you do forget next time don't give me a heart-attack!" Falco exclaimed as he was lying on the floor, rubbing his beak again, "Why is everyone out to get me today?"

"Karma." Krystal said with a grin.

"Whatever, I'm going back to my room," The avian said as he started to get up, "I don't need this crap right now, it's bad enough I got my ass kicked by a fifteen year old kid today."

"Twice." Fox cracked a grin as well, Falco lifted his middle finger at the vulpine as he walked out of the bridge and down the hall to his room.

"Okay, now we just need to figure out what to do about Cross." Krystal said, turning her head back towards the vulpine.

"What do you mean?" Fox asked with a puzzled look.

"Does your mind register at all? What I mean is that he can't just keep beating up Falco, even if he does deserve it sometimes." The vixen explained.

"Oh yeah...about that," The puzzled look was now replaced with a calm one, "I had a talk with him and he told me he'll try to keep it under control." He assured her.

"That's good," Krystal was glad to hear this, but she was still weary about the dark fox, "You know, Cross is the last animal I would expect to have Aerophobia."

"Funny isn't it? At least we know he has emotions." Fox chuckled a bit.

"That's what I'm afraid of, maybe he has too much emotion."

"Huh?" The puzzled look made it's triumphant return.

"Think about it Fox, you saw the way he hit Falco, it seems that anger doesn't sit well with him."

"How do you notice this stuff and I don't?"

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out others, but, of course, you're no genius." The cerulean vixen giggled.

"Hey!"

"Don't take it to heart Fox, you may not be a genius, but I love you none the less." She smiled

"Thanks, I love you too." The vulpine said as he leaned in closer to the vixen to lock his muzzle with her's.

Silence filled the room as the two showed their love for one another with a long passionate kiss, "Well, I have to go to my room now, today was fun and all, but I really need some rest." Krystal said as she pulled away and rose from the chair she was sitting in.

"Wait up, I'll come with you." Fox said as he too was rising from his position, and the two left the bridge and headed down to Krystal's room.

* * *

_Pure darkness filled the area, nothing except cold, damp darkness, "Where am I?" The young vulpine wondered. As he stood up, he saw an image of himself, standing right in front of him, "Who the hell are you?" He asked, cautiously._

_"Who am I?" The other vulpine spoke, "Well, I am you."_

_"What does that mean?" Cross was irritated, "Give me a clear answer damn you!" He yelled._

_"Yes, let the rage consume you, it will be much easier that way." The other vulpine had a smirk on his face, exposing his left fang._

_"Easier for what?"_

_"You cannot trust them, they will soon find out the truth and abandon you."_

_"They wouldn't do that!" He yelled as he figured out who the copy of himself was referring to._

_"I assure you, it will happen, and then they will cast you aside like nothing."_

_"No! That won't happen!" Cross lunged at the other vulpine, ready to strike, but stopped as if he was turned to stone where he stood._

_"Oh it will, you are nothing but a killing machine, it's your only purpose in life," The exact image of Cross faded into the darkness._

_"No, I can be more than a killer, these ones are nice, they trust me. THEY TRUST ME!!" The dark vulpine screamed as tears ran down his face._

Cross awoke, panting heavily, the sides of his face wet with tears, he jumped out of the bed, running to the bathroom as quickly as possible, hoping no one would see him, he remembered the way to the bathroom from when Fox showed him to the guest room, he had seen a door that read 'Restroom' on his way. When he arrived, he looked in the mirror, staring at the black 'X' on his head, "They trust me." He whispered to himself.

He wiped the tears from his face with his arms and left the bathroom, he noticed a digital clock in the hall on his way back to his room that read 12:45 P.M. and then his stomach let out a growl loud enough that anyone in the halls, no matter how far they were, would be able to hear it, so he decided to look around the ship for the kitchen. It wasn't long before he found a door that read 'Mess Hall', so he went inside to find something to eat, what he found instead was a certain blue furred vixen standing beside the sink holding a small glass of water in her right paw.

Cross noticed that the vixen was only wearing a pair of red shorts that went a few inches down her thighs, and a white tank top, she looked very attractive to him. He realized that he was staring and quickly turned the opposite direction, facing the door, _"Oh crap! I hope she didn't see me, please Goddess I hope she didn't see me!" _The vulpine thought to himself, he heard footsteps behind him and when they stopped, he felt a paw land on his shoulder.

"Turn around Cross." The vixen ordered in a strict tone.

The dark vulpine did as he was told, closing his eyes tightly and gritting his teeth in the process, _"Oh man, I'm screwed! Nice job Cross, look what you did now!" _He thought to himself, awaiting his punshiment.

"Open your eyes Cross." The vixen ordered him again.

He shook his head, his eyes still tightly shut.

"Now!" She demanded loudly, and in an even more strict tone than before.

_"Dammit!" _He thought as he slowly opened his eyes, he turned his head and quickly looked away soon after he realized that he was looking at the vixen's chest, though it could not be seen through his fur, his cheeks were red from embarrassment, _"Great job! not only did she see you staring at her but she would have to be blind not to notice that one! Slick move idiot!" _He scolded himself.

"Look at me Cross." She ordered again.

Every time she ended a demand with his name it made him cringe a bit, but he did as he was told, the vulpine looked up at the taller vixen, only to see a friendly smile.

"Don't worry Cross, I'm not going to hurt you, I take it as a compliment that you find me attractive." She said in a comforting tone.

Cross blushed, making his dark red fur start to turn a normal red.

"Come with me Cross, I would like to talk to you." She said with her left paw on his right shoulder, directing him towards the round table.

"I'm sorry if I offended you or made you feel uncomfortable." He said, trying his best not to look at her.

"It's okay Cross, no need to apologize, I think it's rather cute." She said, still looking at him.

Cross was blushing deeply now, his cheeks a bright red, the last thing he wanted was to be referred to as 'cute'.

As the two made it to the table, Krystal sat Cross down, and walked to the sink where she stood before, "Would you like a glass of water?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes please." He said, not taking his eyes off of the table in front of him.

The vixen turned the fosset and filled the glass with the liquid, when it was full, she walked over and set it on the table in front of the vulpine, and he took a drink.

"You can look at me Cross, I don't mind." Krystal insisted as she sat down beside the vulpine.

"It's okay, this is a lovely table." He said in a sad attempt at an excuse.

"Don't feed me that crap, I just want to talk to you, and I can't do that when you have your attention on the table, please Cross?" Krystal asked in somewhat of a pleading tone.

The words from the vixen were like a force pulling his head to look her in the eyes, and he had no control what so ever. When he saw her eyes, his tensed muscles soon became relaxed.

"That's better, I just want to try and get to know you better." She said, smiling.

"May I ask you something?" Cross said almost immediately after she spoke.

"And what is that?"

"Why does the door say 'Mess Hall', isn't that usually used in prisons or military bases?" He asked.

"Well actually, Falco thought it would be funny, I don't really care either way." The vixen answered.

"You have beautiful eyes, Krystal." The vulpine said suddenly, his eyes widening as he realized the words that left his muzzle.

"Wait, are you hitting on me?" She asked, glaring at him.

He turned his gaze back down to the table, "No, I'm sorry, that was...I'm sorry," He closed his eyes again as his cheeks turned bright red as before, waiting for the inevitable, _Crap!" _He thought to himself again, _"You were in the clear but noooo you just had to mess it up didn't you? Good going dumbass!" _

Silence filled the room for a moment until it was broken by the laughter of the vixen, "Oh my Goddess! You fell for it!"

Cross was shocked and confused at what had just occurred.

"I just wanted to see your reaction," She explained as her laughter sub-sided, "Thank you for the compliment."

"Um...your welcome?" He said, still confused.

"Anyway, I noticed that you are Aerophobic," She said, "Why is this?" Krystal was curious, and wanted to know more about Cross.

"I don't know, really," He said, his cheeks turned back to their original dark red, "Honestly I just don't like flying or heights, I just get terrified."

"No offense, but I wouldn't have guessed you would be afraid of anything." The blue fox told him.

"Yeah well, no ones perfect I guess." He said before taking another drink from his glass of water.

"You know, you're awfully polite for someone who punched Falco's lights out a few hours ago."

When Cross put the glass back on the table after taking another drink, Falco walked in the kitchen, and noticed the two foxes talking, "What do we have here?" He said in an interested tone.

"Speak of the devil." Was all the vixen said.

"Is Fox's engaged lover hitting on the new guy?" The avian asked jokingly.

"No, we were just talking about how Cross knocked you senseless out on the docking bay." She answered with a victorious smirk.

"Lucky shot, plain and simple." Falco said as he made his way to the refrigerator.

"It looked pretty clean to me." The vixen assured him, not changing her expression.

"Hey Falco? Cross asked.

"What?" Falco replied, opening the refrigerator door and reaching for a bottle.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for hitting you earlier, I let my anger get the best of me."

"It's alright, I was bein' a jerk anyway." The avian said while closing the refrigerator door and taking a swig from the bottle that read in large letters 'WILSON'S', and underneath that read 'The best beer in all of Lylat', after Falco pulled the bottle away from his beak, he turned to Krystal and Cross, "You want any?"

"No, I hate alchahol." Krystal turned down the offer.

"No thanks, I'm too young anyway." Cross did the same.

"C'mon, you know you want some." Falco tried to convince the vulpine.

"Nope, I'm good." He re-assured the avian.

"Eh, whatever, more for me." Falco said as he was leaving the kitchen.

Shortly after he left, Fox walked in, clad in a pair of black sweatpants, yawning loudly, he went over to the sink seemingly not noticing Cross and Krystal at the table as he grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water before walking over to the table and taking a seat on the opposite side of the other two foxes, "What's up?" Krystal asked, startling the light brown vulpine.

"Oh just waking up," He answered as he looked at Krystal, then Cross. "I see you two are getting to know each other,"

"We're just talking." Krystal informed him.

"What are you doing up anyway?" Fox asked the dark vulpine.

"I had a nightmare, don't really wanna talk about it." Cross answered

"Well if you don't want to, I won't make you," Fox said, "Oh yeah I almost forgot, I had ROB configure the door for your room to match your paw print, all you have to do is put your paw on the scanner, and the door will open."

"Hey Fox, want to spar?" Krystal asked out of nowhere.

"Sure, we can give Cross a demonstration," The vulpine answered, "But first, I think we need to get some decent sparring clothes on." He added as he looked down at himself, and then at Krystal.

* * *

1:45 A.M.

The trio of foxes were now in the gym, Krystal wasn't wearing anything different, except for a pair of sneakers and a sports bra, while Fox had a pair of black athletic shorts and a navy blue tank-top, Cross was still wearing his black tee-shirt and a pair of red athletic mesh shorts that Fox had given him, as Fox and Krystal took their spots on the mat, "Tell me, what's the point of this 'sparring' thing again?" Cross asked, intrigued.

"Well, mainly it's for fun, you know, to pass the time." Fox answered his question.

"Even if he knows he can't beat me." Krystal said, sticking her tongue out at Fox.

"Interesting." The dark vulpine was paying very close attention.

"Shall we?" Fox joked with the vixen, taking his fighting stance.

"Yes we shall." The vixen took her own fighting stance.

Neither of the two budged from their respective spots, each guessing who would make the first move, until Krystal lunged at the vulpine, her left leg approaching the side of his head in an attempt at a roundhouse kick, Fox ducked, avoiding the kick which would have certainly knocked him out had it connected, Fox then tried a sweep kick at the vixen's right leg, which she saw and quickly jumped into the air, dodging at the last second, she flipped and extended her left leg as she descended towards the vulpine, hoping to land an axe kick, but he saw this coming and moved out of the way, grabbing her leg and pulling her down hard to the mat, the vixen landed with a grunt, Fox quickly moved on top of her, trying to lock her into a sleeper hold, but to no avail as the blue fox squeezed out of his grasp, the two were quickly set back into their original fighting stances, "I thought you had me for a minute." The vixen said, smiling.

"Yeah, so did I." Fox replied as he lunged at the vixen, throwing a right hook, but Krystal had him well scouted as she dodge his punch and grabbed is arm, flipping him over her shoulder onto his back, keeping hold of his arm and locking it into an armbar while pressing her knee against the vulpine's neck.

"So, do I win?" Krystal asked, slightly increasing the pressure on his arm and neck.

He tried to counter with all of his strength, but the hold on his arm and the press on his neck became too intense, he could feel the circulation cutting off in his arm, and the blood rushing to his head from the lack of oxygen, so he used his free paw to tap the mat repeatedly, signaling his defeat.

"That's three in a row." The vixen said as she let go of his arm and stood up.

"That was amazing," Cross exclaimed with his mouth wide open, awestruck, "Wow, I can't believe you got beat."

"So Cross, what do you think of this?" Fox asked while Krystal helped him off of the ground.

"It really does look fun." The dark vulpine answered.

"You wanna try it?"

"Sure, I can't wait." Cross said, approaching the mat.

"You're gonna fight me, I need a win right now." Fox smirked.

"You better go look for Falco then, 'cause you won't beat me." Cross returned with his trademark smirk, exposing his left fang.

As the two took their fighting stances, Fox noticed Cross hadn't changed his position in the least, _"What is he doing? He has no guard, I can easily take him down in one shot." _Fox thought to himself, confused in what the dark vulpine was scheming, he brushed the thought away and jumped at Cross, spinning three times before lashing his leg out at the dark vulpine's face, who jumped clear over Fox, flipping and landing perfectly behind him, Cross turned and threw an uppercut towards his opponent, but Fox quickly grabbed his arm, jumped, and wrapped his legs around Cross neck, locking him into a triangle choke and falling on his back, taking Cross down as well..

"Looks like I'm gonna win," Fox said as he increased the pressure on the hold, "You give?"

"No." The dark vulpine managed to say, despite the blood rushing to his head.

"Alright then, have it your way." Fox tightened his legs around Cross' neck.

Cross started to feel drowsy, _"I'm not giving up!" _He thought to himself as he started to stand upright, lifting Fox's body in the process, his yellow eyes turning a deep red, he let out a loud growl, almost a roar startling Krystal as she watched the spectacle unfold, Cross was standing fully upright, holding the larger vulpine in the air with one arm, just then, he slammed Fox on the mat, and as soon as the grip from Cross' neck was loose, he pounced on Fox, grabbing him in a front headlock, locking his paws together in an under hook, "Now, do you give?" Cross asked, clearly having the upper hand.

"Never." Fox answered.

"You sure? I can dislocate both of your shoulders right now," The dark fox informed him, tightening his hold, causing Fox to groan in pain, "Last chance."

"Okay! I give!" The light brown vulpine yelled, ending the match.

Cross let go of his hold on Fox, "What a rush!." He happily exclaimed, extending a paw.

"Just great, two losses in one day, and it's not even past two in the morning!" Fox grabbed Cross' paw as he was helped up from his sitting position.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but that fight got me energized," Cross turned to leave the gym, but stopped shortly after, "Hey, could one of you help me find the bridge?" He asked, turning to face the two foxes, who simply laughed.

"Sure Cross, I'll take you there." Krystal said.

"I'll be with you in a few," Fox told them, after they left the gym, "Now where's Falco?" He asked himself.

* * *

**_Author's Note: I promised action, and I did the best I could. This chapter was fun to write, especially considering the awkward situation Cross was put in, hey it had be done eventually. Anyway, until next update, later._**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

In a dimly lit room, walls covered in dark red, a white octagon merged with a pentagram in the center of the floor, stood two figures each in a black cloak which bore the same logo as the floor, "What happened on Corneria?" A cold voice asked from one of the hoods.

"We entered, they fought back, Star Fox came and we were forced to retreat." The much larger hood answered with a gruff voice.

"So Star Fox is the reason we weren't victorious?" Asked the smaller cloaked figure, disappointed.

"No, there's someone else."

"Who?"

"Less than half of the soldiers we sent came back, very few saw what caused this, but the few who did say that the assailant was simply a dark red flash."

Silence filled the room, it was so quiet that even the most silent assassin would be heard.

"Thank you, that is all." The smaller figure dismissed the larger one, and as he left the room, the smaller one thought, _"Who is this 'red flash'?" _There was something familiar about a 'red flash' but he just couldn't place anything in his mind about it, but then his eyes widened as he thought more and realized who Corneria's sudden savior was as he whispered, "Cross." The cloaked figure stood completely still, somewhat afraid, but soon the fear was discarded as he let out a small chuckle, _"No, that's impossible."_ He thought more and soon brushed it off, _"We will attack again, just as soon as our forces recover, you won't be so lucky next time Fox McCloud." _A snicker escaping his muzzle.

* * *

1:50 A.M.

"So what exactly happened back there in the gym with Fox?" Krystal finally asked the dark vulpine walking beside her after a few minutes of silence.

"What do you mean?" Cross answered with a confused look.

"Don't play dumb with me, I mean when you lifted him off of the ground with one arm, he's almost twice your size for Lylat's sake!" The vixen almost yelled.

"Adrenaline I guess." Cross simply shrugged.

"That's a lie and you know it."

"No it's not, I'm just an ordinary fox like yourself."

"Ordinary fox's eyes don't turn red."

Cross wasn't ready for this, "So you noticed huh?"

"It's easy to see," Krystal told him, "So tell me, what are you?"

"Well...let's just say I haven't had a great life so far." This wasn't the answer Krystal wanted, so she decided to search the young vulpine's mind, Cross felt a slight warmth behind his ears and chuckled, _"You won't find anything Krystal, you should just stop now."_

This startled the vixen, "How do you always know?"

"It's easy to tell." Cross told her sarcastically as they arrived at the two-sided door to the bridge.

"Well, here we are." Krystal said as she put her paw on the scanner causing the two sides of the door to separate.

Cross immediately went over to the window and gazed into space, "It's beautiful." He said, awestruck.

Krystal wasn't amazed like Cross because she saw this everyday, but she joined him anyway, "So this is your first time in space?"

"Yeah, I've lived on Corneria for as far as I can remember." Cross answered, not so much as glancing away from the window.

"How come I've never seen you there?"

"Because I've always lived on the streets, ever since I was eight years old the only home I knew was either a dumpster or a sidewalk."

"Then why are you so smart? How come you can fight so well?" Krystal felt as if she needed to know everything about the dark vulpine.

"It's always been that way, one day I woke up in an alley and I had all of this knowledge about the quickest and slowest ways to kill someone, every weak point, that's all I'm good for," He looked down, "I'm just a killer."

"Cross?" Krystal asked.

"What?" The dark vulpine looked at the vixen.

"How far back can you remember?"

"I don't know, why?" Krystal then put her paw gently on the vulpine's forehead, Cross was confused, "Krystal, what are you--" He was cut-off.

"Shh, I'm going to search your memories." The vixen said as she closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Okay then." Cross said with a puzzled look.

Krystal was seeing everything that Cross had seen, starting with the sparring match with Fox, to the incident in the kitchen, which made her giggle a bit, all the way to the fight on Corneria. When she dug deeper however, she saw what looked to be the inside of a carrier ship, it looked as if Cross was walking through the halls, but something wasn't right, she noticed a soldier clad in purple and black armor, but then the soldier was lying on the floor of the ship, gasping for air, to the left she saw a dark red paw come into view only to slash the soldier's throat, and then another soldier came along, only to suffer the same fate, she then realized that Cross was the one doing all of this! The vixen didn't want to but she had to keep watching the violent slaughter, she watched Cross walk through the ship from his eyes, slashing every soldier who came into view until he came to where the pilots were, the vixen watched as the lives of the two pilots were taken without hesitation, but then she saw the ship's front fall to the ground at great speed, as a forest grew closer and closer with every passing second and then, nothing. Krystal started to stop but she saw something else, it looked as though Cross was crawling through the streets and into an alleyway, as he propped himself up against a wall, he raised a photo of two kits, one of them was dark red while the other was a pure white, both of them were smiling, for a few seconds she saw nothing but darkness, but then she saw something else, it was too a blur of white, she couldn't tell what it was but it didn't matter as the white blur soon faded into darkness.

"Krystal, are you okay?" Cross asked.

The vixen was sweating, tears rolled down her face as she was panting heavily, "Y-yes, I'm fine." She said as she wiped the tears from her eyes and began to catch her breath.

Fox walked in a few seconds later and noticed Krystal's condition immediately, "What's wrong Krys?" He asked, concerned.

"I need to talk to you in private." Krystal said as she walked towards the door and down the hall.

Fox looked at Cross, "Did something happen?" Cross shrugged his shoulders while Fox turned to follow Krystal.

Cross looked back into space as he thought, _"I wonder what she saw."_

Fox followed Krystal for a few seconds until she turned around, "What's wrong Krys?" He asked again.

"Close your eyes." She said.

Fox did as he was told, "Okay but I don't know where you're going with this."

"Just shut up and let me concentrate." The vixen said as she held his paw in hers and closed her eyes.

Krystal showed Fox everything that she saw while searching Cross' memories, after a few minutes Fox's eyes opened up and a horrified look came across his face, "My Goddess." Was all he could say.

"So what should we do?" Krystal asked.

"How should I know?" Fox asked with a puzzled look.

"You're the captain! You have to know!" The vixen yelled.

Fox thought for a moment, "I don't know."

"We can't take him back to Corneria, he has no home." Krystal was saddened.

"Well then we just keep him on the ship with us, all we need to do is keep an eye on him and make sure nothing sets him off," Fox told the vixen, "I told you before, I'll talk to Pepper about it when we get our mission."

The two headed back towards the bridge, but Cross was waiting for them at the door, "Is something wrong? I heard yelling." Cross looked concerned.

"Nothin' wrong here." Fox said as he walked through the doorway onto the bridge, Cross went back over to the window to look at the stars as they passed, every few minutes the Great Fox II would pass Corneria, which Cross was amazed at how it looked from the ship, Kystal walked over to the couch and sat down.

"I still can't believe I'm on a ship in space, it's unreal." Cross said, still gazing at the stars.

"Yeah it is pretty cool huh?" Fox said as he joined the dark vulpine by the window, "So, I hear you like Krys."

The sudden statement caught Cross off guard, "What's not to like, she's a very nice person." He said nervously.

"It's okay, hormones are kickin' in." Fox joked, thus resulting in embarrassment for Cross, which resulted in Krystal laughing a bit.

After a few minutes passed, "Well, I'm gonna head back to bed," Fox said looking at a clock that read 3:00 A.M., "Gotta be ready just in-case a call comes through, plus we gotta get you some clothes that fit." The light brown vulpine stated as he turned towards the door.

"I'll go to bed as well," Krystal said as she stood from where she was sitting in, "Sweet dreams." The vixen winked at Cross as she said this, which embarrassed him a little.

Cross was the only one left on the bridge, still looking at the stars, but as he looked into space, _"What did Krystal see that I can't?" _He couldn't remember anything past when he was eight years old, and became frustrated, _"Am I really that terrifying?" _His assumption was that he could only have been created for killing since that was all he knew how to do, and soon frustration turned to anger, _"What am I? What was that dream about? Why can't I remember?" _Cross then looked at his claws, and anger turned to realization, _"Maybe that is all I am, nothing more than a killer, I hope General Pepper will know more about me." _Cross could only hope.

After an hour passed Cross decided to head back to his room, it was easy to find because beside the door read 'Guest Room' so the dark vulpine put his paw on the scanner and the door slid open, Cross walked in and sat down on the bed, then opened one of the desk's drawers, reached in and pulled out a photo of two kits, one dark red, the other pure white, as Cross turned the photo over, on the back it read 'Brother', "I will find you one day, no matter what it takes." He said before putting the picture back into the drawer and as he lay down he said, "I promise."

* * *

3:30 A.M.

In a small house on Corneria, a bright orange vixen with a unique red stripe that ran down her face was sitting at a table in a kitchen holding a glass of water in her paw, "What's the matter Ziv, couldn't sleep?" A low, smooth voice asked.

"Yeah, something's been bugging me about that one guy who helped us earlier, what about you?" Zivia asked in her somewhat high-pitched voice as Hax came into the kitchen and sat down next to her. She was wearing a bright red tee shirt along with a pair of equally bright red pajama pants.

"You know me, I just like the night, and the guy that you're thinking about, his name is Cross and he's with Team Star Fox right now up on their ship." The lupine informed. Hax was dressed in a blue muscle shirt and a black pair of jeans.

"How do know all this?" Zivia was stunned.

"I hacked the military data-base, they work pretty damn fast that's for sure." The wolf said with an arrogant grin.

"You know you're not supposed to do that."

"I just can't help myself sometimes," The lupine shrugged, "Besides, they're the ones who sent us home as a reward for helping to fend off whoever was attacking us, if they didn't send us home I wouldn't have been able to hack them."

"One of these days you're luck is gonna run out." Zivia warned the black wolf.

"Hmm let's see, by my count I've hacked them at least twenty times and they've caught me," Hax put his paw to his muzzle as if he was thinking, "Oh yeah that's right, they've caught me an astounding zero times."

Zivia giggled, then yawned, "Well, I'm gonna go ahead and try to go to sleep." The vixen said as she stood and headed for the stairs.

"I'm goin' for a walk y'know, get some fresh air," Hax said while standing up as well and turned towards the entrance to the house, "Good night Zivia." The lupine said as he put on a pair of running shoes.

Zivia yawned again, "Good night Hax." She returned while walking up the staircase.

* * *

4:00 A.M.

As Hax walked down the sidewalk, he didn't see a single soul for the past half-hour, that until a voice came from a corner, "Look what we got here boys, I'm guessin' that someones lost." A tan bulldog said as he walked out from the shadows with three other dogs behind him, a collie, a brown german-shepherd, and a grey bulldog, all of which wore a black leather jacket.

"Hey guys, I don't want any trouble." The lupine said with his paws in the side pockets of his jeans.

"I bet you don't." The tan bulldog said, obviously he was the leader of the group.

"No, you misunderstood, I don't want any trouble 'cause I'd hate to be the reason for any hospital bills that I know you can't afford." Hax insulted.

"Let me take him out boss." The grey bulldog said eagerly.

"Show this idiot we mean business." The lead canine ordered.

Hax simply sighed as the grey dog rushed towards him, the wolf didn't even move from his spot as the bulldog grew closer, the grey dog shot a right hook at the lupine, but only found air which was taken from him in an instant as Hax lifted his knee into the dog's stomach, still with his paws in the pockets of his jeans. The leader of the group then motioned for both the collie and the german-shepherd to attack, the two followed their orders as they too rushed towards Hax, the collie went to tackle the lupine's legs, while the other dog tried to land a left cross to his jaw, Hax saw this coming and reacted quickly as he took his paws out of his pockets and flipped upside-down standing on his right paw while punching the collie square on the muzzle and kicking the other dog in the jaw, knocking both of them unconscious.

"So, what're you gonna try?" Hax asked arrogantly, the bulldog growled and pulled a knife from the side pocket of his jacket, "So you're not gonna play nice, what a shame." The lupine grinned as he said this, thus angering the bulldog even further as the canine ran straight at the wolf, when the bulldog was close enough, he slashed the knife at Hax horizontally, the lupine ducked and quickly shot his elbow up, slamming into the dog's chin, the bulldog's body fell limply to the ground.

"Well, at least I warned them." Hax shrugged as he turned to walk back home.

* * *

_**Author's Note: I'm sorry I couldn't get this up sooner, something went wrong about a month ago with my laptop which is where I do my writing and I had to send it back to get it fixed(2 year warranty for the win), and I didn't get around to sending it due to laziness, but now it's fixed and I can continue this story for those who care. Until my next update, later and I hope you enjoyed.**_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

10:15 A.M.

Falco was relaxing on the bridge of the Great Fox II, searching through channels on the holographic television produced by a rather small device on the wall. A bruise had developed on the chin of the avian's beak due to an uppercut from a certain vulpine, "The kid can throw one hell of a punch, that's for sure." The avian was referring to Cross as he rubbed his beak. Falco was in simple attire with a white tank top, blue track pants, and a black pair of sneakers.

The door to the bridge opened as Fox walked in and noticed the blue avian on the couch, but the first thing the vulpine noticed about Falco was his bruised beak, "I guess Krys was right, it did leave a mark." Fox chuckled as he said this. The vulpine was wearing a black tee-shirt and a white pair of athletic mesh shorts.

"Eh, whatever." Falco shrugged.

"Anyway, where's Slip?" Fox changed the subject.

"Probably still asleep."

"Still?" Fox was surprised as Slippy was usually awake at this time of day.

"Yep, I guess yesterday took a lot out of him."

"Well Krystal, Cross and I are going back to Corneria for an hour." Fox told Falco.

"What for?" The avian asked.

"We need to get Cross some new clothes, mine are a bit too big for him."

"Ya think?" Falco asked sarcastically, "Hell, you might as well buy him somethin' from the infant section." The avian joked.

"He is small, I'll admit that," Fox agreed, "But he's a terrific fighter, I don't think I've ever fought someone as tough as Cross."

"How would you know?" Falco raised an eyebrow.

"We sparred earlier, around 2 o'clock this morning."

"Who won?" The avian was interested in this.

"Well...I hate to say it, but he beat me." The vulpine answered.

"He beat you!? How?" Falco was in disbelief.

Fox told Falco how the night went with every detail, by the time he was done, the avian started laughing, "That's the best thing I've heard all week! You got beat twice in one night!"

"Hey! Don't rub it in, it's not like you haven't lost before, I'll remind you that you haven't won against me at all."

"No, but I've never had my ass kicked twice in one night, unlike you." Falco said, still laughing.

A few minutes later, after Falco was done laughing, Cross walked in, "Mornin' Cross," Falco greeted the dark vulpine, "Fox just got done tellin' me how you beat him senseless in your sparring match."

"Oh yeah, about that," Cross said while looking at the ground, "I'm just wondering, you weren't hold back, were you?"

"Nope, besides, it wasn't a serious fight anyway, even though I don't think I would have a chance then either." Fox chuckled.

"So, when are we leaving?" Cross asked, changing the subject.

"As soon as Krys wakes up," Just as Fox said this though, Krystal came onto the bridge, fully dressed and ready to go, "How about that, right on cue." Fox turned towards the yawning Krystal who was wearing a light green tee-shirt, a light blue pair of jeans, and a pair of black sneakers with white lines around the edges.

"Good morning everybody." Krystal greeted them.

"Alright, let's get ready to go."

"Crap." Cross dreaded the fact that he'd be flying again, the dark vulpine knew it would come but he wasn't expecting it to be so soon.

"Well, if you don't want to go you can stay here, but she's picking out your clothes." Fox pointed to the blue vixen as he said this.

Cross thought for a moment and remembered how Krystal referred to him as 'cute' the night before, "Okay, I'll go."

"You sure?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Cross knew the kinds of clothing Krystal would probably pick out, and that would mean a lot of insults from Falco.

"Alright, but don't say I didn't give you a chance."

The three foxes left the bridge and walked to the docking bay, nothing much was said besides idle chit-chat, when they arrived, "Cross, you're riding with me again." Fox told the dark vulpine as he opened the hatch to the cockpit.

Cross took a deep breath before crawling into the Arwing and strapping himself in while Fox double-checked everything as he always did, "Okay, I'm ready." Cross nervously said.

As Fox jumped in, he saw that Cross had tensed his muscles again, "You'll be fine, Cross." Fox assured the young vulpine.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Cross loosened his muscles and started to relax as Fox closed the cockpit hatch.

"ROB, get us set for launch." Fox ordered.

"Openeing docking bay doors, ready for launch." ROB said in his monotone voice.

"All systems go." Fox said as Krystal's Arwing took off into space, seconds later, Fox's Arwing did the same.

"You know, this isn't so bad." Cross said as the Arwing smoothly but swiftly flew towards Corneria.

* * *

11:00 A.M.

Fox's Arwing landed in the docking bay without any trouble as expected, and as Fox opened the cockpit hatch, Krystal was standing beside her Arwing waiting for the two vulpines, "So how did he handle it this time?" Krystal was of course referring to Cross who had dug his claws into the back of Fox's seat while panting heavily.

"We hit some turbulance when we entered the atmosphere, and he freaked out again." Fox answered as he jumped out of his seat.

"There's...got...to be... a better...way." Cross said in-between breaths.

"Well there's not, so you might as well get used to it," Fox said as Krystal giggled a bit, "So come on, we don't have all day to wait for you, or we can just fly back to the Great Fox." As soon as Cross heard this, he leaped from the cockpit to the ground beside Krystal.

"Well, let's go, Gordon's probably here by now." Fox said while turning to the large doorway of the docking bay, when the trio walked outside, sure enough the black feline was standing right there beside the black hover car in his traditional black suit.

"Hello, Mr. McCloud." The black feline greeted as he handed Fox the keys.

"Do I have to keep telling you? Call me Fox."

"I'm sorry, it's in my nature, well I must be going now, have a good day." Gordon said, turning towards a red hover car that awaited him.

"You too." Fox returned while opening the driver side door, Krystal got into the passenger seat which left the backseat for Cross.

"Wow, it's roomy back here." Cross said as the hover car drove off into the city.

* * *

11:15 A.M.

Fox dropped Krystal and Cross off at a small nearby clothing store, "Alright, we'll meet back here at twelve, that should give you two enough time to find what you need."

"Where are you going?" Krystal asked.

"I've gotta go see Peppy for a bit to talk a few things over with him." Fox answered as he glanced towards Cross for a brief second.

"Okay then, we'll see you at twelve." Krystal said before the black hover car drove off.

The two went into the store, they were surprised at the lack of customers, considering this place was well known, "Well, at least no one's hassling you." Cross told the vixen who giggled at the statement.

Krystal went over to the blue wall of sustained energy that held the clothes in the air, "This looks cute." She said as she grabbed a sky blue tee-shirt and placed it on Cross' chest neatly, "It's a perfect fit too."

Cross didn't want to be associated with anything that was thought to be 'cute', so he pushed the shirt away, walked over to the wall of energy, and grabbed a black tee-shirt with a circle of flames designed on the chest area, inside the circle of flames was a skull with red eyes, "I like this," Cross said showing it to Krystal, "Not that your choice wasn't good, it's just a bit too cutesy for me."

"Okay, how about this," Krystal started, "Tell me what you like best and it'll help me know what to pick out so that we can make this quicker."

"Well, anything that's black, red, or white I like the most, blue is okay, but only dark blue, but I hate pink, purple, or anything related to those, grey is fine too, just as long as it doesn't have something corny or prissy written on it."

"I'll see what I can find." Krystal said.

After a good half-hour, the two foxes walked out of the store with three large bags full of just-bought clothes, which Cross carried all three of them in his left paw, "Well, it's fifteen minutes until 'noon, want to go for a short walk to pass the time?" Krystal asked.

"Sure." Cross answered as the two turned to walk down the busy street.

Five minutes passed until they came to a dark alley, "Hey," A faint voice said, "Over here," The mysterious voice spoke again, the two foxes turned towards the alley, in which they spotted a light grey furred wolf with a large black trench coat, "Got some stuff you might be interested in."

The two walked into the alley, "Keep your eyes open Krystal, there's something shifty about this guy." Cross whispered to the vixen.

"I noticed." She whispered back.

As the two drew closer, "You just bought yourself a beating." The wolf said while pulling a knife out of the inside pocket of the trench coat.

Krystal and Cross turned to leave, but two other grey lupines cut them off, "You ain't goin' anywhere, Short Stuff." One of the wolves said as he shoved Cross back a few steps.

"Touch me again and you'll see how easily an arm can be broken." Cross said with a serious look.

"You threatenin' me, Boy?" The wolf brought his paw up to shove Cross again, but as soon as he made contact, Cross grabbed his wrist, twisted it, and slammed his knee into the wolf's forearm, snapping the bone with a gut-wrenching _crunch_. As the wolf cried out in pain, Cross then jumped into the air and landed a furious roundhouse kick to the side of the other lupine's head, completely knocking him out. Cross did all of this without letting a single piece of clothing fall out of the bags.

"What the hell?" The wolf in the trench coat wondered as he witnessed this mayhem, Krystal took her chance, kicking the blade from the lupine's paw and smashing him in the face with her palm, resulting in blood gushing from his nose as he fell unconscious immediately after the blow.

The wolf who's arm had been broken passed out from the pain, "Well, I guess they won't be doing that again." Cross said as he started to walk out of the alley.

"Good job, Cross, although I would say that breaking his arm like that was a bit harsh." The vixen told him as she followed him out of the alley.

"Well, sucks for him," The vulpine retorted with no remorse, "Besides, I wouldn't be surprised if you shattered the other guy's face."

"Neither would I." Krystal replied while looking at her digital watch that read 11:55.

The two foxes walked back to the store where they waited for Fox, when he arrived five minutes later, Krystal and Cross entered the black hover car, Krystal sat in the passenger seat while Cross took the back seat again.

* * *

11:15 A.M.

Fifteen minutes passed before Fox made it to Peppy's apartment building, went inside the building, walked up the steps to the second floor and knocked on the door, "What took you so long?" Peppy asked.

"Traffic of course." Fox joked.

"It get's worse everyday," The hare said, "Come one in, relax for a bit." He insisted.

"Actually I can't stay for too long, I need to pick up Krystal and Cross soon."

"Cross?" Peppy asked.

"Our new team member." Fox answered.

"So you found a replacement already?" The hare joked.

"Well, it's just temporary, but you remember the attack yesterday right?"

"Of course I do, we beat 'em too."

"Yeah, but the reason we won is because of Cross."

"Oh really?"

Fox told Peppy about the battle that had ensued, and how if Cross hadn't been there, they would have quite possibly been overrun, he also told Peppy about what Krystal showed him.

"I see, so Pepper wants to have this kid with you because he might make everything a little bit easier on your mission, and along with that, he doesn't even fully remember his past." Peppy said when Fox was finished.

"Yeah, but I don't think Pepper is giving us all of the details."

"How so?"

"Because Cross is..." Fox struggled for words, "well, he's hiding something."

"Maybe he isn't hiding anything, from what you've told me he doesn't remember much, so he doesn't really have anything to hide." Peppy explained.

"Do you have any advice?" Fox got to the point.

"The only advice I can give you is keep an eye on him, if what you told me is true about his memory, then something could trigger this again." Peppy answered.

"Will do," Fox said as he looked at his watch which read 11:40, "Well Peppy, it was good to see you again, but I gotta go, and thanks for the advice." Fox added while turning to leave.

"It's good seeing you too, and remember, Fox, never give up." Peppy reminded him of what James once said.

When Fox left the building, a large tiger approached him, "I've been sent to give you a warning."

"Warning of what?" Fox questioned the much larger animal, but without hesitation, the tiger threw a right uppercut at the vulpine, who quickly dodged as a left hook came his way, which was also dodged, Fox was confused why this sudden stranger was attacking him, but it was time to fight back, so Fox swiftly dodged another would-be knockout and shot a straight punch that slammed into the tiger's nose, making him stumble backwards in an attempt to regain his balance, but Fox was too quick as he ran up to the tiger, and did a back-flip as the toe of his boot connected with the tiger's chin knocking him out cold.

"I wonder what that was about." Fox said to himself as he opened the door to get back into the black hover car.

Fox drove back to the clothing store, _"I see that they didn't have any trouble finding anything."_ He thought to himself when he saw the three large bags of clothing, Krystal and Cross got into the black hover car, but as Krystal closed the passenger side door, she noticed the blood on Fox's knuckles, and she took his paw to examine it, he saw the blood on her palm, "I'll tell you if you tell me." Fox said instantly.

Krystal told Fox what had happened to her and Cross, and in return Fox told them about his little fight as well, "Well, at least you're okay." Krystal said.

"Yeah, but I can't help but wonder, who would just attack us in broad daylight like that?" Fox questioned.

"I don't know, but they obviously didn't know much, otherwise they would've sent more." Cross said somewhat arrogantly as the black hover car drove towards the docking bay.

* * *

12:15 P.M.

The Arwing boarded the Great Fox II, the cockpit opened, and Cross leaped out, fell to his knees, and tried to recover from another panic attack as he was breathing heavily, "I...hate...flying." Cross said with wide eyes.

"You'll live," Falco said as he walked onto the docking bay, Cross shot Falco a small glare, "Hey, I could make some more jokes." Falco grinned a bit.

"Yeah, we saw how well that worked for you before." Fox reminded the avian as he crawled out of the cockpit and hopped onto the floor.

Krystal was standing next to her Arwing with the three bags of clothes, "So, have we gotten any calls?" The vixen asked.

"Nope, it's just as boring as ever here." Falco answered.

"At least we'll be ready then," Fox said turning to Cross, who had recovered from his ordeal, "Krys, why don't you go help Cross with his clothes, I'm sure he'll need the help with all of the stuff you bought."

"You didn't say there was a limit, besides we can spare some credits anyway," Krystal walked towards the dark vulpine, "Let's go then, shall we."

"Okay." Cross said as he followed Krystal to the door which led to the halls of the Great Fox II.

"So," Fox started, turning to Falco, "What's Slippy up to?"

"Well, right now I think he's making his daily checks on the ship." The blue avian answered.

"Alright then, I'm gonna go to the bridge just in-case Pepper calls us." Fox said as he walked towards the door to the hall.

Fox sat in his chair, anxiously waiting for that one call, Krystal and Cross had come into the room. Cross had changed his attire, wearing a black tee shirt with a circle of flames and a red-eyed skull inside them designed on it, a baggy black pair of jeans, and a white pair of sneakers with black covering the sides. A few minutes passed until, "There is a call coming from Corneria." ROB said.

Fox's eyes lit up with surprise mixed with happiness, "Patch it through." The vulpine managed to say.

* * *

_**Author's Note: Now that that's done with, I've realized that I like writing action sequences the most and I hope I've done well on them. Not really much else to say here so until the next update, later and I hope you enjoyed.**_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

12:00 P.M.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Fox said, "What you're telling us is that our enemy has a base on a deserted planet in the Grexian galaxy, and we need to go in, retrieve any information that we can, and blow the place up?" The vulpine questioned.

"Yes, that's your mission," Pepper confirmed, "I'm sending the layout of the base as we speak, I'll also be sending two soldiers to help you, they will arrive on your ship in thirty minutes." The canine added while putting a small cylinder onto a platform, Pepper pushed a button and the cylinder faded from view.

"So having Cross with us isn't enough?" Krystal asked.

"I'm sure Cross is more than enough help, but I'm sending more help just to be safe." Pepper answered.

"Speaking of Cross, why did you want him with us in the first place?" Fox cut in as the small cylinder arrived on a similar platform in front of him.

There was a short pause, "Because he can help you with your mission, didn't I explain that before?"

"Come on General, I wasn't born yesterday."

"We'll discuss that a different time, right now you have a mission." Pepper told the vulpine, avoiding the question as the image of the General disappeared.

"That went well." Falco said sarcastically.

"Shove it, Falco." Fox told the avian.

Thirty minutes later, "Unidentified ship approaching." ROB informed the team.

"Let 'em in." Fox said.

"Affirmative." ROB opened the docking bay doors as a small fighter entered the Great Fox II.

"Alright, let's see who these two are." Fox turned to exit the bridge, the others followed. Soon they arrived at the docking bay, where Fox noticed that the fighter was extremely small, almost half the size of an Arwing, the light grey aircraft was round, had no wings, and the thrusters weren't even able to be seen, it looked more like an escape pod than anything else, then, a light orange fox crawled out of the top of the fighter, she had a pure red stripe that ran from the top of her head down past her muzzle, Fox couldn't forget a face like that, "Hey, I remember you, we saw you back on Corneria."

"Yep, the General figured we would be the most suitable to help with your mission." The vixen said as she removed her helmet, revealing her straight shoulder length hair that was just as red as the stripe on her face.

"We?" Fox questioned, just then, a hole opened up from the side of the small fighter, and a black wolf stepped out, he had a small bush of white hair on his head that also overlapped his left eye.

"Hax, you're not supposed to take your helmet off when we're flying." The orange vixen scolded the lupine as she hopped from the small aircraft.

"What can I say, rules are made to be broken." Hax replied.

The vixen rolled her eyes and turned to Fox, "We haven't been properly introduced yet, I'm Zivia, and this guy's Hax."

"Nice to meet you." Krystal greeted.

"So, when's this mission gonna happen?" Hax asked.

"In a couple of hours, we still have to come up with some kind of plan," Fox said, "So, why exactly did Pepper send you two to help us?"

"See, Hax and I both passed training at the top of our classes, simply put, he's the best fighter, I'm the best shooter, I also graduated from the Cornerian Flying Academy at the top of my class, they told me I was the best pilot since well, you guys." Zivia explained.

"Along with that, I haven't met a database that I can't hack." Hax added.

"I see, so Pepper sent you for good reason," Fox said, "Also, what's this thing? I've never seen it before." The vulpine asked, looking at the odd aircraft.

"Oh, it's a little project that the military's been working on, it's called the 'Complete Silenced Aerodynamic Fighter' or 'CSAF' if you will, it has a cloaking device that makes it completely invisible to the naked eye as well as radar, but it can only be activated for a short period of time, the weapons system fires small stabilized jolts of plasma with even more force than your Arwings, it also matches the Arwing in every aspect of quickness, and is also faster than the Wolfen, even an amateur pilot can be a threat in one of these." Zivia answered.

"Interesting," Fox managed to say despite his awe, he soon shook it off though, "We might as well head to the bridge, we can make a plan there, ROB, set the ship in hyper-speed, take us to the Grexian Galaxy and put us in orbit around planet Coluxine as soon as we get to the bridge." The vulpine said, turning to the hallway door.

As the group of seven walked down the hall to the bridge, "Tell me," Falco started, "What kind of name is 'Hax'?" He asked.

"Actually, my real name is Vaughn, but everyone calls me Hax." The lupine answered.

"I can see why." Falco chuckled.

"Eh, I prefer Hax anyway, it has a better ring to it." The black wolf admitted.

* * *

2:45 P.M.

Two hours had passed as the Great Fox II was in orbit around the desert planet known as Coluxine, the plan was simple, Hax would hack the base's defence system's which would give Fox, Krystal, Zivia, Falco, and Cross thirty seconds to land on the planet's surface half a mile from the base without being detected, Zivia would then snipe anyone she saw outside of the base, making sure that the rest of the group wouldn't be detected before they got inside, Krystal, Fox, Falco, and Cross would then enter the base, gather any information possible with a small chip that could break into any system courtesy of Slippy, set the charges, and get as far away from the base as possible.

"Are you ready, Krystal?" Fox asked.

"Of course." She replied over the comm. link.

"Falco?"

"I was born ready."

"Zivia?"

"Yep."

"Cross?" There was no response, "Cross?" Fox asked again, turning his head to look at the dark red vulpine.

Cross had dug his claws into the back of Fox's seat again, he gulped, "Y-yeah." He managed to say.

"Alright Hax, tell us when."

A few seconds passed, "Go now!" Hax shouted.

All four fighters took off simultaneously towards the barren planet, as the fighters entered the atmosphere, "Twenty seconds until the radar is online." Hax warned as the group shot throught the clouds, the ground below them was dry and cracked, "Ten seconds!" Hax yelled.

_"This is gonna be close."_ Fox thought as they started slowing down to land.

"Five seconds!" Hax warned again.

The group landed in the designated area half a mile from the large base shaped like a mountain, "Did we make it?" Krystal asked.

"Yeah, right before the systems came back online, you guys got lucky." Hax told them.

Cross still had his claws in the back of Fox's seat, frozen in place, "You okay Cross?" Fox asked as he opened the cockpit hatch, but Cross didn't respond, Fox looked back to see if the dark vulpine was even breathing, Cross' fur was standing on end, his eyes wide as he sat completely still, not moving an inch.

Krystal walked up to Fox's Arwing, "Is he okay?" She asked, concerned.

"Yeah, but I think he's in a state of shock." Fox answered, looking at the frozen Cross, Zivia overheard this and walked over to Fox's Arwing as well.

"What wrong with him?" The orange vixen asked.

"He has a bad fear of flying." Fox answered.

Zivia hopped onto the Arwing and examined the dark vulpine, "Hmm," She thought for a moment before pulling her right paw back and slapped the side of Cross' muzzle, Fox and Krystal both flinched from the loud sound, "That should do the trick." Zivia said as she hopped down from the Arwing, Falco witnessed this and started to laugh.

"I don't think that--" Fox started to say.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Cross yelled, suddenly removed from his frozen fear and rubbing the side of his face.

"See, I told ya." Zivia said.

"Why does my face hurt?" Cross asked.

"Nevermind that, let's get started on our mission." Fox ordered.

Zivia found a spot that she thought would be suitable for cover-fire when the rest of the group left the base, she had a hunch that enemies wouldn't be too far behind of them, a few minutes passed while she looked over the base through the scope of her sniper rifle, "All clear." The orange vixen informed the rest of the group.

"Alright," Fox said while strapping a pair of grenades to his belt, "Team, let's go."

The group ran towards the base, as soon as they arrived, "Okay, there's weak points inside the base, Slippy said we need to set the charges in these areas," Fox told them, pointing to five spots on the layout of the base, "We'll set them while we get our info, everyone besides the four of us here is a hostile," He said while reaching into his backpack and pulling out two small spherical devices and sticking them to the wall, "Stand back," The vulpine ordered, they did so, and a few seconds later, the wall vanished into thin air, "Let's move."

Everything went according to plan, despite the many enemy soldiers in their way, they had set four charges so far, but needed to get to the master computer room, where Slippy told them if any information could be gathered it would be there, unfortunately, this is where most of the resistance was, "These guys just won't stop, it's like there's a limitless supply of 'em!" Fox exclaimed as a charge shot escaped from his blaster and through the head of an unlucky soldier, the group was in a large hallway, the walls, floor, and ceiling all blood red.

"Then there's only one thing left to do." Cross said as his eyes turned a dark red, matching the color of his fur. Cross grabbed a small pebble and threw it into the crowd, Fox noticed that three soldiers fell immediately after the pebble left Cross' paw, just then the dark vulpine dashed straight into the horde of enemies, each of them falling one by one, blood spurting from their limp bodies, soon after this, Cross stood where the seemingly endless amount of soldiers once were, Cross' eyes changed back to their original gold color as he smirked, exposing his left fang.

"Cross watch out!" Krystal yelled as one soldier fired a plasma shot from his rifle towards the back of Cross' head, the dark vulpine dodged the shot and dashed towards the enemy soldier, the soldier tried to fire again but was too late as Cross literally tore through the soldier, ripping him in half.

"Showoff." Falco said.

"Well, the master computer room is right down that hall." Fox told them as a plasma shot zipped past his head.

They immediately took cover, "Fox, take Cross and finish the mission, we'll hold them off." Falco said.

"Okay, be careful," Fox handed a device to the avian, "You two need to get back to the Arwings, if I'm not back in thirty minutes, you know what to do." The vulpine started to turn around.

"Don't do anything to get yourself killed, or I swear I'll kick your ass." The blue vixen told him before she shot a large ball of fire into the crowd of soldiers with her staff.

Fox chuckled as he and Cross ran down the large red hallway, the two vulpines soon came to a large room, on the wall was a large computer screen, Fox walked over and inserted the small chip into the port on the control panel.

Cross stood beside the entrance, ready to strike anyone who entered, _"Cross..." _A voice similar to his own said.

"What?" Cross asked.

_"Cross...Cross..."_

The dark vulpine walked to a door which led to another hallway.

_"Cross..."_

Cross walked down the dark hall and into a room where a tall cloaked figure stood, the figure had a long sheath dangling from it's side "Who are you?" Something about this figure was familiar, and it angered him for some reason.

"Me? I am your creator." A cold voice came from the hood.

That voice was familiar to Cross as well and also angered him, "My creator?" The vulpine asked, managing to sustain his sudden hatred.

"Let me show you." The cloaked figure pulled back his hood, and revealed his face, he was a black vulpine with two different colored eyes, his left eye was gold, while his right eye was silver.

Suddenly, Cross felt a stinging pain in his head, images started to flash before his eyes as if he was living them, the pain throbbed with every passing second as Cross came to the sudden realization, "No..."

* * *

"Okay Cross, I have the files and set the charge, now we just need to get out of here." Fox said as he turned to the exit, but as he looked at the exit, Cross was nowhere in sight, "Cross?" Fox asked, hoping to hear something, just then a large paw grabbed Fox by the throat, and lifted him high in the air, choking the life out of the vulpine, Fox quickly reacted by swinging his lower body and kicking as hard as he could, he felt his boot collide with something, and soon Fox was dropped, when he hit the floor he instantly jumped back as a massive cloaked figure almost twice Fox's size stood before him.

"That hurt," The figure spoke in a deep, gruff voice, "You'll pay for that." The figure charged at Fox who quickly jumped into the air and landed a spin-kick in the process, his heel connecting with the side of the figure's head, forcing the hood backwards to reveal a grey wolf with an eye patch over his right eye, a scar ran down the entire right side of his face.

_"I gotta make this quick,"_ Fox thought to himself, "Come on, ugly." He taunted as the massive lupine charged at him again, Fox jumped over the wolf and left a flash bang behind him as he ran towards the exit, the lupine was blinded by the light, and when he could finally see again, Fox was gone.

Fox heard a loud roar as he ran down the hallway and towards the exit of the base, _"I guess he didn't like my trick, I hope Cross is alright." _The vulpine thought to himself.

* * *

"So, do you remember who I am?" The black fox asked Cross.

Cross stood there with his eyes closed, "I remember everything," The dark red vulpine opened his eyes, "Father."

"Yes Cross, but you shall call me Chaos."

"Yes." Cross answered in a hateful tone.

"Ah, I see your spirit is strong, but no matter how strong a spirit may be, it can still be broken."

"Bones can be broken too." Just then, Cross leaped into the air, prepared to strike the black vulpine, but as he was inches away from surely ending the fox's life, his body suddenly stopped in mid-air.

"I was hoping it wouldn't be like this, I want you to meet someone," Cross' father pointed to his left, where a fox with deep blue fur hovered just a few inches off the ground, the fox had a pure white plus mark on his forehead, similar to the black X on Cross', "Do you recognize him?" The black vulpine asked.

Cross could only move his eyes and mouth, he didn't remember anyone like that, until he saw the gleaming silver eyes, "Brother!" He realized.

"Yes it is, and now you will die by your own brother's paw." Chaos snickered.

The blue vulpine's eyes turned a deep blue, Cross felt a pain in the back of his head, it felt as if his brain would explode, the pain started to become too much, and before Cross passed out, the last thing that he saw was his brother, then, complete darkness.

As soon as Cross passed out, the blue vulpine released his hold, and turned his attention towards Chaos, "What are you doing!? Kill him!" Chaos ordered, but to no avail as the blue fox focused his gaze on the black fox in front of him, mere seconds later, Chaos' body was blasted through a wall, the blue vulpine then engulfed himself and the unconscious Cross in a white sphere, the sphere vanished seconds later.

* * *

_**And now a word from our sponsor...wait a minute, I don't have a sponsor! Shit...this is awkward.**_

_**Author's Note: I hope I've done well on this story so far, this chapter wasn't as long as my other chapters but I hope it's still good...oh yeah, until the next update, later.**_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Cross awoke in a bed, his head hurt quite a bit, and his entire body felt numb, as he opened his eyes he instinctively squinted at the brightness, a blurry figure was before him, the only thing he could make of this figure was that it was a dark blue color, "He's waking up!" A voice similar to Cross' own yelled.

Cross blinked a few times as his vision cleared, the dark blue figure was none other than the fox he saw in the base on planet Coluxine, "Brother," Cross managed to say lightly as Fox and Krystal approached the bed.

"You had us worried." Fox told him.

"How long was I out?" Cross asked weakly.

"Three days." The leader of the team answered.

"Yeah, sorry about that," The blue vulpine apologized, "I guess I over did it." He rubbed the back of his head. The blue fox's attire was pretty plain, a white tee-shirt, a simple pair of blue-jeans, and a pair of white sneakers.

"The mission was a success, we blew up the base, Slippy's analyzing the information we gathered, and we're in orbit around Corneria," Fox informed, "Now we just need to figure out what to call you," He added, turning towards the blue vulpine, Fox looked at the white plus sign on his forehead, then at Cross, then back at the blue fox, "We'll call you...Ecks." He said.

The dark blue vulpine thought for a moment, "Ecks...I like it." He said with a smirk, exposing his right fang.

"So Ecks, what is your relation with Cross?" Krystal asked.

"We're twins." Ecks answered, still with that smirk on his face.

Fox and Krystal's jaws dropped in unison, "What?" They both yelled in surprise. It may have been a surprise at first, but when the two thought about it for a moment, Ecks looked exactly like Cross in every way, despite the fact that Ecks' fur was blue and Cross' was red and that Ecks had a white mess of hair that went from the top of the plus sign on his head and down to the back of his neck, while as Cross kept his head neatly buzzed.

"So does that mean you can do everything that Cross can?" Fox asked.

"Well...no actually, at birth we were normal, no special powers or anything like that, but at age seven, our father, Chaos, decided to--".

"He's not our father, Dad died eight years ago, that piece of shit Chaos is just using his body." Cross interrupted.

"As I was saying," Ecks looked at Cross for a moment, then turned back towards Fox and Krystal, "Chaos had his scientists experiment on us, his original intentions were to create the ultimate warriors to defend against anyone who tried to attack our home planet, soon after though, he began thinking that if he had that kind of power, he could rule the universe, and became corrupt with greed, the mark on my brother's head symbolizes that he was a failed project, I have no idea what his flaw is but Chaos chose to have him disposed of, which of course as you know didn't pan out the way Chaos intended."

"How did you--" Krystal started.

"I'm getting to that," Ecks cut the vixen off, "They experimented on us in separate ways, with Cross, they injected chemicals into his bloodstream that increased his strength and speed tenfold, they also gave him every single bit of knowledge about fighting, thus resulting in the spectacles you've witnessed," Ecks explained, "I on the other paw was injected with Cerinian DNA and they sped up the process of learning each ability known to Cerinian kind, which means I have every power that a Cerinian can possibly have, and a few others as well, which for some odd reason also increased my overall intelligence, the mark on my head symbolizes that I was the choice for them to continue experimentation, Cross had amnesia because of the crash, and recently recovered his memory at the sight of Chaos, but no matter how much we try, Cross and I will never remember what our home planet was called or what our original names were, or our father's name for that matter, or even our own mother."

A tear came to Krystal's eye, "That's horrible." She said as she was on the verge of tears. Fox was shocked, he knew that Cross wasn't an ordinary fox, but he never expected this.

A few silent minutes passed, "We need to check if Slippy's done analyzing the info we gave him." Fox said as he turned towards the exit of the medical bay of the Great Fox II.

Cross felt a sudden warmth behind his ears,_ "Since I already know you're reading my mind, what exactly happened at the base after I passed out?" _He thought.

_"I'll show you." _The blue vulpine answered with telepathy, he closed his eyes and transfered everything that happened into Cross' mind as if it were happening to Cross right at that moment.

Cross saw everything through Ecks' eyes, he saw himself being dropped onto the ground, and then he saw Chaos, the black fox yelled in anger but was soon slammed through one of the blood red walls behind him, then he saw a bright light, after this, he was next to an Arwing outside of the base, where he saw Fox and the others, he then looked at the base and noticed two escape pods moving in the opposite direction into the sky, and then, complete darkness.

_"Why did everything go black?"_ Cross asked through his mind.

_"Zivia shot me with a stun blast from her rifle, she apologized when I woke up though." _Ecks replied.

Cross tried to laugh, but immediately stopped due to the pain that his body in, _"What did you do to me?"_ Cross asked with his mind.

Ecks decided to talk now, "I started to smash your body with my telekinesis, if I didn't stop when I did, you would've been crushed." The blue vulpine calmly said.

"It's a good thing you remembered me then." Cross replied.

"You need to get some rest, I'm going to go talk with the others." Ecks said as he stood up and walked out of the medical bay.

As Cross rested in the bed, he began to think about how happy he was that he was finally re-united with his brother of whom he hadn't seen for eight years, and soon drifted off into the depths of slumber.

* * *

11:30 A.M.

Although Ecks wasn't familiar with the ship, it didn't take him long to find the others as he simply followed the scent of blueberries to the bridge, Ecks put his paw on the scanner as he had seen Fox do earlier, and the door opened.

Fox, Krystal, Zivia, Falco and Hax were all on the bridge, "So what's our next move?" Ecks asked.

"We wait." Fox answered

"For what?"

"A call from the general."

"Why?"

"So he can tell us what the next mission is."

"Oh, okay." Ecks said while moving towards the window to look at the stars.

"Are you stupid?" Falco insulted.

"No, I was simply wondering why we weren't going after the Doombringers since they are clearly vulnerable, but it's obvious that you're clueless about simple battle strategies." Ecks retorted, causing chuckles from the rest of the group.

"At least I ain't short." The avian muttered.

Krystal noticed that Ecks was hovering a few inches from the floor, "How are you doing that?" The blue vixen asked.

"Doing what?" Ecks looked at her with a puzzled look.

"What you're doing! You're floating!" She exclaimed.

"Oh," Ecks realized as he looked down, "Yeah, about that, I don't have to concentrate when I do this, so it tends to happen a lot without me noticing," The dark blue vulpine explained, looking back into the stars, "Something's out there."

"What?" The rest of the group almost yelled, jumping out of their seats with their full attention on Ecks.

"Three unidentified aircrafts approaching." ROB confirmed Ecks' suspicions.

"They're not friendly," Ecks informed, "I can read their thoughts," The dark blue vulpine sighed, "I'll handle this."

"Wait, are you sure?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, they have cloaking devices so you guys won't be able to tell where they are, but I can." Ecks' body became outlined in a pure white aura, he closed his eyes, normally the iris of his eyes were silver, but they turned dark blue when he opened them, matching the color of his fur.

"We need information on the Doombringers so try to take one of them alive if possible," Fox told the dark blue vulpine who simply nodded his head.

"Be careful." Krystal said right before Ecks vanished and re-appeared outside of the Great Fox II.

Six large shots of purple plasma fired at Ecks seemingly from nowhere, but the shots stopped right in front of the blue vulpine, completely still, _"I'll give you one chance to leave."_Ecks warned through telepathy, they didn't heed his warning though, _"Have it your way."_Just then, three purple aircrafts became visible, and Ecks mixed the six shots of plasma into one, and fired it at one of the fighters at great speed, the fighter stood no chance of dodging it, and the aircraft exploded upon impact from the large blast of plasma.

Fox and the crew watched the spectacle unfold with awe, "These kid's are just full of surprises." Fox said, amazed at what he was witnessing.

Ecks turned his attention on the fighter to his left coming straight at him, the dark blue vulpine vanished, "erehw did eh og?" The soldier questioned in a different language as he stopped.

"Right here." Ecks whispered into the soldier's ear, the soldier reacted quickly and pulled out a blaster, but when he turned around no one was there, the soldier turned back around in his seat, facing the outside of his ship, however when he did this he saw the dark blue vulpine right in front of him, Ecks placed his paw on the aircraft's front, a white aura emanating from it, seconds later Ecks vanished, and the fighter exploded. The only fighter remaining took notice at his comrade's demise and tried to escape but Ecks appeared right in front of his fighter, he was too close to fire upon, as his plasma cannons couldn't move inward to attack, the enemy soldier could do nothing but wait for his death, Ecks put his paw on the aircraft's front as he did before, and the soldier closed his eyes, the fighter didn't explode, instead it vanished along with Ecks.

_"What happened?" _Fox asked himself.

_"You guys need to come to the docking bay." _Fox heard Ecks' voice in his head, he noticed the looks on the other members' faces and new that they heard the same thing, so they all headed to the docking bay.

* * *

A small pod was flying in space, two figures were in the small escape pod, one of the two was un-noticeable as it was engulfed in a black cloak, covering any facial features, while the other figure was an unconscious black vulpine, as he started to wake up, "Era uoy yako?" A female voice asked in a different language.

"Yes, now can we pease speak Lylatian?" The black fox asked, "I find that it's easier on the toungue."

"What do you plan to do about this, Chaos?" The cloaked figure questioned.

"It's only a minor setback, we will continue with our research as planned, even the great Fox McCloud can't stop us." Chaos said confidently as he reached up to pull the cloaked figure's hood back, revealing a bright blue furred vixen as the two foxes locked muzzles.

* * *

A few minutes passed until the group arrived at the docking bay of the Great Fox II where they saw one of the purple aircrafts that was outside of the ship, the soldiers was frozen in fear, "Nice job Ecks." Fox said with a smile.

"It might take a while before he talks, I guess I scared him pretty bad." Ecks shrugged.

Fox jumped onto the wing of the fighter and tried to pry open the cockpit, but to no avail, "Here, let me try." Ecks insisted.

The dark blue vulpine closed his eyes, seconds later the glass of the cockpit shattered and Fox grabbed the soldier who was still stricken with fear but as he did this he noticed that there was another animal in the aircraft, the passed out passenger was a light grey furred she-wolf and wasn't wearing a uniform, hell, she wasn't hardly wearing anything at all, her clothes were ripped and she had bruise marks all over her body, "Those sick bastards." Fox said as he pulled the helmet off of the soldier and removed any weapons he could find, the soldier was a black panther, "Let's find a nice little spot for our new guest," Fox said, slapping a pair of energy endused hand-cuffs onto the soldier and the passenger's wrists, the she-wolf didn't look like a threat, but Fox couldn't take any chances.

"We should wait a few days before we interrogate him," Ecks suggested, "Cross should get a chance to have some fun." The blue vulpine smirked, exposing his right fang.

* * *

_**Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to post, I've had a bit of a rough month and haven't gotten around to writing this at times, that's half the reason, the other half is because well, let's face it, I've just been downright lazy, but I'll try to get these chapters up quicker. Anyway please R&R, I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading. Until the next update, later.**_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

2:30 P.M.

A few days had passed since the team had captured the enemy soldier after an attempted attack on the Great Fox II, Fox of course informed General Pepper about this and was told to interrogate the black panther for any information about the Doombringers that they didn't already know, the same went for the battered and bruised female wolf, despite her injuries.

"I'll ask you one more time," Fox was growing more impatient with the black panther sitting at the small table in the interrogation room, "What are the Doombringers up too and where is the main base located?"

"I piss on your ancestors' graves! Stupid Lylatian scum!" The panther exclaimed, it was somewhat difficult to understand what the panther was saying as it was clear that he was new to Lylatian speech.

"Look, either you can tell me what I need to know, or I can have my friend beat it out of you!" Fox yelled angrily as he slammed his fist onto the table, the panther resonded by spitting in the vulpine's face, Fox calmly stepped back, wiped off the saliva below his left eye, and turned around, "Just remember, I gave you a choice." Were his last words before exiting the room, leaving the panther to ponder the situation.

Falco and a fully recovered Cross were standing outside of the room, "Sounds like everything's goin' great." Falco said sarcastically.

"We have to go to plan B," Fox said, turning towards Cross who had his signature smirk on his face, once again showing his left fang as he had done so many times before, as the dark vulpine opened the door, a look of terror appeared on the panther's face, "Just try not to kill him." Fox told Cross.

"No promises," Cross said as he closed the door.

"Now, are you gonna talk?" The dark red vulpine asked, he received no answer, Cross walked over to the panther, grabbed him by the arm, and flipped him onto the ground, "This will be fun." Cross said as he cracked his knuckles.

* * *

A light grey wolf awoke in a bed, the light was bright as she opened her bright blue eyes, _"Where am I?"_ She wondered as she sat up.

"I see that you're awake," A young voice said, startling the she-wolf, she looked at where the voice came from and spotted a dark blue fox, she grabbed her covers and looked as if she was going to scream as Ecks floated towards her, "Shh, it's okay, you're safe." He assured her as he put his paw in front of himself to quiet the scared she-wolf.

As he drew closer, "Who are you?" The female wolf asked, Ecks was surprised at how well she knew Lylatian speech .

"My name is Ecks, and you are?"

"Alexia Wolfenstell, now where am I?"

"Well Alexia, you're on the Great Fox II."

"Wait a minute, the Great Fox II? You're talking about team Star Fox?"

"You know them?" Ecks was even more surprised now.

"Of course I do, everyone in the Lylat System knows the great team Star Fox."

"Hold on a second, so you're not with the Doombringers?"

"No, I'm from Corneria."

"Then how did we find you on one of their ships?" Ecks was starting to become confused.

"I was a soldier in the military, they cornered me when we were attacked, took me away on one of their ships and..." She hesitated for a moment, "Th-they tortured me." She cringed at her own statement

"Here, let me help you," Ecks said as he stuck his paw out, a white aura emanating from it, Alexia's only reaction was fear as she flinched, "It's okay, I won't hurt you." He tried to comfort her the best that he could, the she-wolf decided to trust him as the tenseness in her body left, and Ecks placed his paw on her left arm.

She felt a warm surge move through-out her entire arm, it wasn't painful, it was actually soothing, "What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm healing you." He answered.

_"Well, you're just full of surprises." _Alexia thought as she could already feel the pain start to wash away as the same warmth she felt before start to engulf her entire body.

"Yes, more than you know." Ecks said.

The light grey wolf was extremely shocked, "Wait, did you just--"

"Yes." He answered the question before it was asked, Ecks continued his concentration until the she-wolf was fully healed.

* * *

Cross had the panther lying face-down on the hard floor of the interrogation room, the red vulpine's knee was buried deep into the panther's shoulder, keeping him from making an attempt to escape, Cross also held the panther's left arm straight out in his left paw, "So, ready to talk?" Cross asked, the claws on his right paw were bared.

"I do not know anything!" The panther yelled.

"That's funny, 'cause I think you do," Cross said before he drove his claws into the panther's shoulder, resulting in a loud, agonizing scream of pain, "What if I ask nicely? Will you talk then?" Cross asked with his claws still lodged deep in the feline's flesh.

"I know nothing!" The panther said again.

"You know, it's not nice to lie to others." The red fox said as he pulled his right paw towards himself, ripping at the panther's arm as he did so, resulting in large amounts of blood spurting from the wound and making the panther scream even louder than before, Cross pulled his claws out of the feline's arm, "Do you know anything yet?" The dark vulpine questioned again.

"No! I swear!" He yelled.

"I wonder how easily an arm can break," Cross said, pulling his paw back and forming it into a fist, "Still don't know anything?" He asked with a smirk.

"I swear to you! I know nothing!" The black panther started to sob.

Cross sighed, "You just can't get good help these days." He said as he reared back his fist, and shot it into the back of the panther's elbow, a loud _snap _could be heard outside of the room, right before the panther's screams of pain, as Cross let the arm drop limply to the floor, a piece of the bone was sticking out of it, "Hmm, I wonder." Cross said as a sinister grin formed on his face, The red vulpine grabbed the arm and took hold of the forearm bone which was sticking three inches out of the panther's flesh.

"NO! PLEASE! ANYTHING BUT THAT!" The panther begged.

"Then tell me, where is the main base located, and what are the Doombringers planning?" Cross calmly asked.

"I...can't tell you!" The feline said as he sobbed.

"Ah, so you _do_ know something," Cross started to pull lightly on the small piece of bone, making the panther panic, "Tell me."

"I can't or they will kill me!"

"What makes you think I won't?" Cross asked as he stopped pulling the bone, "One last chance, you gonna talk?"

"N-no."

"That's too bad." Cross said with no emotion as he snapped off the small piece of the forearm bone, making the panther scream even louder than before, he passed out seconds later from the pain.

Cross walked out of the interrogation room and saw Fox and Falco, each with the same horrified look on their faces, "What's up guys? You two look like you just a ghost." He said with a smirk, showing his left fang.

"I don't even want to know what happened in there." Falco stated.

"So, did you get any info?" Fox asked, shaking off his horrified expression.

"Well, he knows something, but tomorrow I'll just have to move to the other arm," He answered as he turned to walk to his room, he stopped before he passed Falco, "Here, take this as a souvenir." He said, handing Falco the bloody piece of bone, and walked away.

Falco looked at the small object in his feathered hand, and quickly knew that it used to be a part of their new guest, and quickly dropped it, "Man, what the hell did he do to him?" The avian asked, looking down the hall where Cross had went.

"I don't know, but I'm really glad he's on our side." Fox stated, kneeling and picking up the bloody piece of bone.

* * *

Ecks finished healing the battered she-wolf, "There, you should be okay now, you just need another day to fully recover.

"Thank you, I don't know how to repay you for this."

"No need to repay me, I'm just doing what I feel is right."

Just then, Cross walked through the door into the medical bay, "So, how's everything on your end?" He asked.

"Just fine Cross." Ecks answered, Alexia looked a bit confused as she looked from Ecks to Cross and back to Ecks.

"Who's our new friend here?" Cross asked as he approached the bed.

"Oh right, Cross this is Alexia, Alexia this is Cross, he is my brother." The blue vulpine introduced, Alexia's face shifted from confusion to surprise in an instant.

"Your b-brother?" She was completely shocked.

"Yes, he has a bit of a temper, and isn't as intelligent as I am, but yes, he is my brother." Ecks joked.

"Hey!" Cross exclaimed, grabbing at Ecks, but the blue vulpine simply teleported to the other side of the bed, making Alexia jump a bit out of surprise, "One of these days I'll get you." Cross said with a grin.

"Sure you will, now then, what information have you gathered from the one we captured?"

"Well, he hasn't said anything yet, but tomorrow I'm sure he'll talk." Cross answered.

"Why must we wait until tomorrow?" Ecks asked, but suddenly realized, "Cross, what did you do?"

The dark red vulpine nervously scratched the back of his head, "He...passed out."

"Why?"

"Uh...because I went a little too far." Cross took a step back.

"How so?"

"Well...I sort of..."

"Sort of...what?"

"I broke his arm."

Ecks let out a sigh, "Fine, we'll talk to Fox and handle it tomorrow."

Alexia didn't know what to think about all of this, "Um...exactly what is going on here?"

"Long story short, my brother and I were made like this because of our father, he experimented on us and we want revenge, but in order to do that we need to find out where the main base is located." Ecks explained.

"Oh...okay."

Ecks caught a glimpse of thoughts from Alexia, "Do you know anyone who goes by the name of 'Hax' by chance?" The blue vulpine asked.

"Yes, he's actually my fiance." She answered.

"What? You and Hax?" Cross blurted out suddenly as his jaw dropped.

"This is quite a coincidence." Ecks remained calm unlike his brother, even though he was surprised as well.

"You two know him?" The she-wolf asked.

"Know him? He's on this ship!" Cross was still stunned.

"Really?" Alexia tried to move out of the bed, but an unknown force kept her there.

"You need your rest, I'll inform him that your here," Ecks assured her, "Cross, we need to leave Alexia to rest." He said before turning towards the light grey she-wolf, "You stay here, and if you happen to get out of bed, don't leave the room, you don't know this ship and you could get lost." The two brothers then left the room, leaving Alexia to get some sleep, she had to think about that had happened.

The she-wolf was on Corneria, and the next thing she knew, the city was being attacked, and she was captured and taken aboard one of the enemy ships before their retreat, she remembered everything, the beatings she took, the torture she had to endure, she had passed out from the pain and the next thing she knew, she was lying on a bed on the Great Fox II, the only thing she could do know was sleep, hoping that the first thing she would see when she woke up was the face of her beloved, "Vaughn." She whispered as she was taken away into the depths of slumber.

Fox had went to find Krystal while Falco left for the docking bay to paint his Arwing, Fox arrived in the blue vixen's room only to realize that she wasn't there, so he decided to check the bridge where he found not only Krystal, but also found Zivia and Hax sitting on the large couch, "Have you found out where the base is?" Krystal asked, jumping from her spot on Fox's chair.

"No, but I did find out one of Cross' specialties." The light brown vulpine answered, showing the vixen the three-inch long piece of bone.

"What the hell is that?" Hax asked.

"Well, it used to be part of an arm," Fox answered, "We could re-attach it, but Cross would probably just rip it off again tomorrow."

"Cross did what?" Krystal was surprised, she never would've thought that Cross was capable of such extremes.

"The kid knows what he's doing," Zivia cut in, crossing her legs, "Think about it, torture is the best method of getting information out of someone, it's sad to say but it's true, cause enough pain, and soon they'll give, it's the oldest trick in the book, Cross simply took it to a higher level."

The room was silent for a few moments, "She's right, I think we should let Cross do this, it's barbaric, but it works." Fox said.

"Where's Falco and Slippy?" Hax asked, changing the subject.

"Slippy's asleep right now, he finished analyzing the data that we retrieved from Coluxine, but it wasn't anything important, Falco's at the docking bay putting a new paint job on his Arwing." Fox answered.

The doors to the bridge opened, and Ecks walked in, or rather he floated in, "Hax, just the guy I was looking for, do you by chance know anyone named 'Alexia Wolfensteel'? Ecks asked.

"Yeah, she's my girlfriend, why do you ask?"

"Because she's the one we found on when those Doombringers attacked us, she says that you're her fiance."

"What!?" Hax yelled as he jumped from the couch, "She's here? I have to see her!" The lupine exclaimed as he walked towards the exit of the bridge.

"She's sleeping right now."

"I don't care! I have to see if she's okay!" Hax yelled as he took his exit from the bridge.

"He's pretty stubborn." Ecks said.

"He reminds me of someone." Krystal added, looking at Fox.

"Oh yeah? Who?" Fox asked with a grin, making Krystal roll her eyes, "Anyway, where's Cross?" Fox became serious again.

"He went to the gym."

"Interesting, I'll have to check this out." Fox turned to exit the bridge.

* * *

Cross stood in front of a punching bag, examining it, this was yet another item that intrigued the vulpine, he had heard that others used these for training, "I wonder." He tapped the bag with the back of his paw, making it move slightly, he became more intrigued and tapped it a bit harder, the red vulpine kept repeating this process until taps turned to punches, and punches turned to kicks.

Fox walked into the gym and saw Cross hitting the punching bag with force, each blow harder than the one before, Cross heard Fox walk in and turned his attention towards the light brown vulpine for a moment, as soon as Cross looked back at the heavy bag however, it smacked him clean on his nose, he let out a slight yelp as he was knocked back a few steps, Cross' eyes turned from yellow to red as he reared back his arm, and connected with punch with bone-shattering force, knocking the bag backwards and breaking the chain that supported it. Cross eyes changed back to normal as he turned to a stunned Fox.

"What? It made me mad," Cross said, "So, wanna spar?" A smirk appeared on the dark vulpine's face.

"No thanks, maybe some other time, I don't want to end up like that." Fox said, still looking at the heavy bag on the floor.

"Okay, when do we start with the interrogation again?"

"Tomorrow, but until then, make sure you don't rip anyone else's bones out."

"Sorry, I guess I went a little overboard, but it's his fault for not telling me anything."

"Either way, it works, we need to get any info we can, and your way seems to be the best way."

There was a small pause, "I'm gonna go to bed, I need my rest so I can make sure he talks tomorrow." Cross ended as he turned to the exit of the gym.

Even though it was against what Fox stood for, it was the only way, Fox could only hope that the one they captured would give them details before Cross would eventually have enough and kill him, but that was all Fox could do.

* * *

1:45 AM

Alexia awoke, it felt like deja vu, squinting at the bright lights, she forgot where she was for a moment, but she soon remembered, her eyes opened, she looked to her left where a black wolf was sitting in a chair, his head propped on his right paw with his eyes closed, she knew eactly who it was, "Vaughn." The light grey she-wolf said, the lupine's eyes opened when he heard this, his bright blue eyes looking at her's.

"Alexia, you're okay." The lupine stood up, and walked to her bed side, a look of concern on his face for the she-wolf.

"Of course I am, you didn't think they could get rid of me, did you?" She asked, smiling.

"I didn't know what to think after I heard that you were captured by them." Hax was happy to see that his love wasn't hurt.

"So, what have you been up to?" Alexia asked, causing the lupine to chuckle.

"Well, the general sent us here to help Fox in dealing with these 'Doombringers', speaking of which, was anyone else taken when Corneria was attacked?"

"I didn't see anyone that I recognized, I guess I was the only one," Alexia looked down, it pained her to think that she was the only one captured during the attack, it made her feel somewhat helpless, "By the way, what did you mean by 'us'?"

"Oh, Zivia and I were sent here." Hax answered.

"What? Zivia's here too?" Alexia became over-joyed, "I can't believe it."

Just then, the entire ship jolted, and Hax fell to the ground, landing on his backside, "What the hell was that?" The lupine asked, surprised.

Krystal ran into the medical bay, "We've just been attacked!" She yelled, "Everyone to the bridge!" The blue vixen ran out of the room.

Alexia tried to stand, but Hax stopped her, "Don't stress yourself, I'll take you." He said, picking her up in his arms and leaving the medical bay.

When they finally arrived they noticed that everyone on the ship was at the bridge, all of them were looking outside to see who their attacker was, except for Cross, who was standing beside the door, frozen in fear, "Who attacked us?" Hax asked as he set Alexia down on a near-by couch.

"The Doombringers." Ecks calmly said.

"ROB! take us into hyper-space! I don't care where we go just make sure it's far away from these guys!" Fox ordered, "We can't fight them, our shields are down, but we need some time before we'll be ready to leave."

Their attacker was a large blood red ship, almost as large as the Great Fox II itself, it had a cannon extending from it's front, and it was charging up for another attack, "One more shot like that and were done for!" Fox yelled.

"I can stop it temporarily, how much time do we need?" Ecks asked, closing his eyes.

"Thirty seconds." Fox answered.

The cannon was fully charged, a large red laser left the barrel and was heading straight for the ship, a white aura emanated from Ecks' body as he opened his eyes, which were glowing pure white, he gritted his teeth as the huge laser slowed down, but was still approaching the Great Fox II at a slow speed.

"Everyone needs to sit down!" Fox yelled.

Everyone did so, except for Cross who was still frozen in fear, and Ecks who was concentrating, trying to stop the red beam that would surely destroy them if it were to hit the Great Fox II, Hax and Alexia held one another in their arms, Krystal held Fox's paw tightly, "I love you Fox." She said, looking into his emerald eyes.

"I love you too Krys." Fox returned, looking into her luscious blue gaze.

Zivia was sitting calmly in her seat, "This is gonna be close." The light orange vixen said, she was worried but wouldn't show it.

"Ten seconds!" Fox yelled, Ecks wasn't sure if he could keep this up for too much longer, his body was starting to weaken, his eyes felt heavy, he could feel his hold on the laser starting to loosen, and then everything went dark.

* * *

_**Author's Note: Well, that chapter took longer than I expected, but it's done so I'm happy now. I finally reached ten chapters! This is kind of a big deal for me, considering that this is my first story, I don't really know how many chapters this is gonna be, but I plan on it going to at least twenty, I thank everyone who has read this, and everyone who has reviewed, especially SkullFox**_ _**and notfromearth7, you guys are awesome. R&R and I hope you enjoyed, until the next update, later.**_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Ecks' eyes opened, he was lying on the floor of the bridge of the Great Fox II, Fox, Krystal and Cross were all looking at him, each face with a look of concern for the dark blue vulpine, "What happened?" Ecks asked, catching the attention of the others, Cross immediately sat down next to his brother, helping him sit up.

"We escaped, just barely though." Fox answered.

"How long was I out?" The dark blue vulpine asked as he started to sit up.

"Five minutes."

"Where are we?" Ecks was now standing.

"We haven't figured that out yet, ROB is scanning the area," Fox placed his paw on his chin and turned away for a moment, clearly deep in thought, "What I want to know is, how did they find us?" He asked himself more than anyone else.

"Possibly a tracking device?" Krystal questioned.

"No, they would've needed to be close to us somehow, none of them were near any of the Arwings, so that's out of the question...unless," Fox's eyes widened as he came to a realization, "Ecks, I know you're exhausted but, would you and Cross come with me for a minute?" He asked, turning back towards the two vulpines.

Ecks and Cross looked at each other, Cross shrugged his shoulders, the two looked back at Fox, "Sure." Ecks answered.

"Right, let's go." Fox turned towards the door, the two brothers close behind.

A few moments passed as the three vulpines walked down the halls of the massive ship, "Fox, where exactly are we going?" Ecks asked, not sure of what Fox was thinking.

"You'll see," The light brown vulpine answered.

The three soon came to a metal door, Cross recognized the door, and a smirk came across his face.

Fox opened the door to the dark metal room where they found a black panther with a red chest-plate covering his entire upper body except for his arms, black armoring on his legs, and dark red boots as he was lying face-down on the floor with a blood-stained left arm that was wounded badly with tears coming from the shoulder down to the forearm and had a small chipped piece of bone sticking out of the elbow area, the panther saw the three vulpines enter the room, he noticed Cross more than the other two as a look of terror appeared on his face. Fox and Ecks shifted their noses at the scent of the bloody room, while as Cross simply didn't care.

Cross walked over to the panther, who started to back away and cower in fear, "So, do you know anything about a tracking device?" Cross asked, extending his clawed index finger as a reminder to what happened earlier when the panther wouldn't cooperate.

"N-no." The panther answered, shaking from fear.

"Bullshit, you know something, and you're gonna tell me what I want to know, unless of course you like pain." Cross smirked.

"I know nothing." The panther started to panic.

"Do you see this on my head?" Cross pointed to the large black X on his forehead, "It means I'm a failed experiment, but I'm sure you know all about that, after all you're in league with Choas, which means," Cross paused as he bared his claws again, "No mercy," The vulpine added coldly, still with an evil smirk on his face, "So, I'll ask you again, do you know anything about a tracking device?"

The panther slowly shook his head from side to side, the poor animal didn't even have a chance for a second thought as Cross picked him up by the throat without warning with his left paw and slammed him up against the wall to his right, "This is getting aggravating," Cross said as he glared at the panther and tightened his grip around his throat, causing the feline to gasp for air, "Ecks, where is the tracking device at?"

The dark blue vulpine was silent for a moment, "It's in his neck, left side, underneath the skin."

Cross then took his free paw and dug his clawed index finger into the side of the panther's neck as he still held him tightly by the throat, "This is what happens when you lie," Cross before ripping out the small tracking chip, causing gurgled screams of pain to escape from the feline's mouth as Cross still kept hold of his throat, "If there is anything else you're hiding, you should tell us now." The dark red vulpine said as he ripped the small chip in half.

"They are trying to find pieces a powerful weapon, they don't know where it is, but they know it's powerful enough to destroy anyone who comes in their path." Ecks said, causing surprised looks from Cross and Fox.

"Nice job Ecks." Fox said, suddenly remembering that Ecks had telepathic abilities.

Cross turned back to the choking feline, "Now we just need to find a way to dispose of you." He said, the already terrified panther was now trying his best to escape the vulpine's grasp, but no matter how much he struggled, Cross' grip wasn't letting up.

"We can't send him back to Doombringers, because then he'll tell them our position, even though we don't even know where we are," Fox said as he was deep in thought, trying to find any excuse not to take this panther's life, "We can't let him stay here, because he'll betray us."

"Killing him is an option." Cross coldly added as he released his hold on the panther who fell to his knees, coughing and gasping for air.

"It seems like the only option." Ecks said.

"Wait, I have an idea." Cross' eyes lit up as a grin appeared on his face as the panther started to stand, the red vulpine looked at the feline, "If you can knock me down with a punch, I'll let you go, but if you can't, then you die, it's that simple."

Once the panther was upright, it was clear that he was much taller than Cross, which of course was no surprise considering Cross' height in the first place, the panther was somewhat hesitant to strike the red vulpine.

Cross noticed his hesitation, "Here, I'll even put my paws behind my back and close my eyes." He said with a smirk as he proceeded to do so.

The panther reared back his right arm, a moment later he struck the vulpine with a shattering force that would break any normal animal's jaw, Cross' body didn't move an inch, "You guys might want to leave." Cross told Fox and Ecks before spitting out a large ball of blood, the two left, a few moments later the panther's screams could be heard throughout the halls of the ship.

Cross walked out of the room a few minutes later, his normally white shirt drenched in blood, and his fur was matted down, Ecks was standing outside of the room, "You just can't help yourself can you?" The dark blue vulpine asked.

"Anyone associated with Chaos will get no remorse and no mercy from me," Cross replied, "I need a change of clothes." He added while looking down at his now bloody shirt.

"Before you go, what exactly did you do?" Ecks said as Cross was turning to leave.

"What do you mean?"

"How did you, you know, kill him?"

"Well, I bit his throat out, like I said, anyone associated with Chaos gets no mercy."

"I see, that vicious streak of yours will come in handy my brother." Ecks said as Cross walked down the hall in the direction of his room.

Ecks went into the room to see that the black panther was dead, half of his neck looked as if it was chewed off, while on the other side of the room there was a bloody piece of fur, Ecks figured it was the part of the neck, the blue vulpine then closed his eyes as a bright light filled the room, a few seconds later Ecks left the room and decided to go back to the bridge.

When he arrived, he saw that only Fox, Krystal and Zivia were there, Fox was sitting in his chair while Zivia and Krystal were sitting on the couch, Fox was clad in a white tee-shirt that bore the Star Fox logo, a pair of dark green cargo pants, and of course his combat boots, Krystal however had taken a different approach, wearing a bright pink tee-shirt and a pair of white pajama pants, this was no surprise considering she was asleep when the Great Fox II was attacked, Zivia obviously didn't waste any time in making herself comfortable as she was wearing a sky-blue tank-top and a pair of black shorts that only went a few inches down her thighs.

"Hey, where's Cross?" Fox asked as the dark blue vulpine floated into the room, he clearly had regained his strength since they were attacked.

"He went back to his room to change his clothes." Ecks answered as he hovered to the window to look at the seemingly endless amount of stars as the Great Fox II floated in the depths of space.

"Why?" Fox asked.

"Well, let's just say that the cat's death wasn't pretty."

"Okay." Fox knew what Ecks meant, he knew what Cross was capable of, so he didn't ask any further questions about it.

"Where did everyone go?" Ecks asked.

"Falco and Slippy went back to their rooms, and Hax took Alexia back to the medical bay, and I'm gonna head to bed soon." Fox answered while standing up from his seat.

"Have you found out where we are?" Ecks was full of questions today.

"So far all we know is that we're somewhere in the outskirts of the Lylat System, but that's all we can come up with for now," Fox answered, "We need to get rid of the cat's body, I don't want my ship smelling like a slaughter house," The light brown vulpine said, changing the subject, "Hey Ecks, can't you teleport the body or something like that?"

"I already did that." Ecks said.

"Then I'm gonna go to bed, I don't know what we're going to do but, we'll figure it out," Fox said as he turned to leave the bridge, and stopped, "Could I offer you a room?"

"No thanks, I'll just sleep here." Ecks answered, still not taking his eyes away from the stars.

"Suit yourself." Fox said as he left the bridge.

Krystal left shortly after Fox did, she knew he was probably sleeping in her room as he usually did ever since they became lovers, Zivia stayed on the bridge though, "So Ecks, you're Cross' brother?" Zivia asked suddenly, startling Ecks.

"Yes I am." He answered.

"Interesting, I wonder, do you two share thoughts, like finishing each other's sentences?"

Well, no, but I do read his thoughts, as I am reading yours right now." The blue vulpine said with a grin.

"Hmm, then what am I thinking right now?"

Ecks was silent for a brief moment, and then the sides of his face turned a dark purple.

"So, what was I thinking?" Zivia asked.

"I'd rather not say it." The blue vulpine's cheeks were still purple.

"Why not? Unless of course you're not a telepath."

Ecks thought for a moment, "Fine," He said before taking a deep breath, "You were thinking that even for my age, I'm pretty attractive." He told her while turning back to look at the stars.

"Is that what I was thinking? Oh silly me," Zivia said with a giggle, "Even though," The vixen started, "I'm only seventeen you know." She added with a wink, causing Ecks to blush even more, his cheeks turning a brighter purple, making the vixen chuckle a bit, she knew about Ecks' psychic abilities, but she thought it would be fun to mess with him.

Just then Cross walked onto the bridge, he had a plain black tee-shirt on, a baggy pair of dark blue-jeans, and of course his white sneakers, the dark red vulpine walked over and stood beside Ecks and noticed that his face was purple, "What's wrong with you?" Cross asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine." Ecks lied.

"Why is your face purple?" Cross asked again.

"No reason." Ecks answered calmly, still not taking his eyes away from the window where he stared into space.

Cross looked at Zivia, then a grin appeared on his face, "Oh I get it, I was interrupting something, I guess I'll leave then." He turned to exit the bridge.

"Wait." Ecks pleaded as he turned his silver eyes away from the stars only to see that Cross had already left, he sighed and turned back around to face Zivia, now that he had gotten a good look at her, he found that she was rather attractive herself, her long, straight red hair went with her bright orange fur was well taken care of, the pure red line that shot down her face was a perfect color match to her hair, the line went to her arms, all the way to her paws, splitting at the fingers and running down each of them and to her claws, the red line continued to run down into her chest, shooting straight down between her breasts, it was clear that the line was patterned throughout her body, shooting down her legs and even to her toes, the vixen's body was in terrific shape, her hips curving at a wondrous angle, her legs perfectly proportioned, her eyes were a bright yellow, almost bright as the stars themselves, Ecks thought that only a fool of a fox wouldn't find this vixen attractive, and Ecks certainly was no fool.

Ecks noticed that he was staring and quickly looked away, his dark blue cheeks once again turning purple, causing a giggle from the vixen, "Here," Zivia said, "Come sit with me, I want to talk with you." She added, patting the cushion on her right, Ecks regained his composure and floated to where the vixen sat, taking a seat of his own beside her.

"So, what would you like to talk about?" Ecks asked, he was a bit nervous while talking to Zivia.

"It's funny how different you two are," The vixen said, "You and Cross I mean."

"How so?" Ecks' voice cracked a bit, he wasn't sure why he was so nervous, Zivia was just another animal, but for some reason he couldn't speak correctly.

"You're always so calm and collected, and yet your brother has a certain presence to him that makes you feel somewhat scared," Zivia answered.

Ecks became less nervous at hearing this, "That's because my brother has had a tough past, sure we were both experiments, but he was tossed aside by our own father and couldn't even remember who or what he was for eight years, he was originally created to fight in a savage-like manner, but that has escalated into something more, he shows no remorse of mercy to his enemies."

Zivia was completely still, looking straight into Ecks' eyes.

"Uh...Zivia, is something the matter?" Ecks asked with concern.

"No, just appreciating life." She answered as her bright yellow gaze was trained on his gleaming silver eyes, Ecks wasn't sure what he was feeling, but he liked it, it made him feel happy, he couldn't figure out why he was so happy just from talking with this vixen that he just met, the two foxes just sat there, simply looking into one another's eyes as the hours passed by like minutes.

* * *

6:30 AM

Hax was asleep in the bed with Alexia in the medical bay under the sheets, he was determined to never leave her side again, the dark lupine's fur made him invisible in the dark room, but Alexia could feel his arm draped across her body as the two slept soundly.

The door slid open, a few seconds later Hax felt something touch his arm, he instantly jumped out of the bed and started swinging his arms about in an attempt to strike something, suddenly the room lit up, Hax's fist was just centimeters away from Cross' muzzle, "What the hell are you doing here?" Hax questioned as he pulled his fist away. Hax might have been a hacker, but he was still on of the best fighters in the military, his fur was as black as the night itself, with the exception of the white spots that covered the end of hi muzzle and the tips of his ears along with the white mess of hair on his head that also over-lapped his left eye, his eyes also had a distinct glow to them, as they were a sky-blue color, his body wasn't over-sized, but his muscles were portioned just right, the lupine was well fit, it was clear that he trained his body on a daily basis. Hax was wearing a simple pair of black sweat-pants.

"I was just here to check if Alexia was doing alright, I wasn't expecting Mr. Psycho as well!" Cross half-yelled.

Hax sighed, "Look, I'm sorry, but next time, make sure you turn on the light unless you want a fist in your face, 'cause I'm not the only one who can fight, she's pretty mean herself." Hax pointed to light grey she-wolf, still somehow asleep even through the commotion.

"She didn't seem so mean when I talked to her earlier." Cross said.

"Trust me, the last thing you'll ever want to do is pick a fight with her, if there's a way to hurt someone, she'll find it." Hax told the dark red vulpine.

Cross decided to leave and Hax crawled back into the bed with his engaged lover, "So, what was all of that stuff about me?" Alexia asked as Hax draped his arm across the she-wolf's chest.

Hax was a bit surprised that she had heard every last word, "I...uh...love you?" Hax said in a questioning tone.

"Good answer." Alexia replied as she fell back into the depths of slumber.

* * *

_**Author's Note: This chapter was more about building up some personality and descriptions for the newer characters entered into the mix, and of course killing off a certain enemy. Anyway I read over my last chapter and I felt as though I wasn't descriptive enough at times, so I tried to put as much aspect of detail as I could into this chapter, remember I'm still learning so constructive criticism is welcome. Thank you all for reading and please review if you liked it or not, until the next update, later.**_


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

10:00 AM

A new day had dawned on the Great Fox II, even though the view hadn't changed at all since the night before, it was still the same stars and meteors in the endless tides of space.

Fox was the first to wake up as he usually was, and decided to grab a small bag of potato chips and a glass of water from the kitchen, when he was done eating and finished his drink, the light brown vulpine went to the bridge, where he saw both Ecks and Zivia sleeping on the couch together, both of them were sitting up, Zivia's head was leaned on Ecks' shoulder, while Ecks' muzzle was resting on the back of Zivia's neck, both of the foxes were still wearing the same clothes they had on the night before, Ecks had a white tee-shirt on, a pair of blue athletic shorts, and a pair of black sneakers, and Zivia still wore her sky-blue tank-top and a pair of extremely short black shorts.

"What's this?" Fox wondered aloud, just then Ecks and Zivia both woke up, looking at each other, then looking at Fox simultaneously, the two realized that they were still huddled together and both of them quickly pushed away from one another, sitting on separate sides of the couch, Zivia's normally bright orange face was now red from embarrassment while Ecks' face was purple.

Fox chuckled and walked over to the window to study the stars, the light brown vulpine was clad in a grey tank-top and a pair of black sweat-pants, a few moments of silence past as Ecks and Zivia were still a bit embarrassed, "You know, there's no problem with expressing your feelings." Fox said, startling the two foxes still sitting on the couch.

"What are you talking about?" Zivia asked with a nervous chuckle.

"I wasn't born yesterday, it's obvious that you have feelings for each other, you shouldn't fight it, just let nature take it's course." Fox said as he turned to leave the bridge.

A few minutes passed after Fox left, Ecks and Zivia looked into each other's eyes, they slowly leaned towards one another, their lips coming closer with every passing second.

"What's up guys?" Ecks and Zivia jumped, startled, they looked at the door only to see Cross walking onto the bridge, Ecks and Zivia both glared at the dark red vulpine. Cross was wearing a dark red tank-top that was almost an exact color match to his fur, a pair of black jeans, and his usual white sneakers.

"Did I do something wrong?" Cross asked, he had a puzzled look on his face as the two foxes glared at him, the dark red vulpine didn't realize how bad his timing was.

_"What an idiot." _Zivia thought.

"Agreed." Ecks said, hearing the vixen's thoughts.

"Agreed with what?" Cross asked as the two other foxes stood up from the couch and left the bridge, Cross was still clueless as to what just happened but he shrugged it off and soon left the bridge as well.

"We need some clues as to what the Doombingers are planning." Cross said to himself as he walked the halls of the Great Fox II, the red vulpine soon came to the large metal door which led to the interrogation room, he didn't know why but he decided to enter the metal room hoping to find something that would at least give them a clue as to what kind of weapon the Doombringers were looking for, unfortunately Cross couldn't find anything in the empty room, "Dammit!" He yelled as he punched the left wall out of frustration, when he pulled his fist away he noticed a small part of the wall was sticking out slightly, the dark vulpine placed his index and thumb fingers on the small piece and pulled, the small piece of the wall tore off like nothing, where the piece of wall originally was there was now a small hole, Cross reached in and pulled out a round silver metal sphere that was small enough to fit into the middle of his paw, "What's this?" He questioned to himself, he noticed a small black button was sticking out of the side of the small sphere, and pushed it, the sphere then started to float, "Fox has got to see this."

* * *

10:15 AM

Krystal was in the kitchen sitting at the table drinking a small cup of coffee when Fox walked in, "About time you woke up." Fox said to the cerulean furred vixen, it was clear that Krystal hadn't been awake for too long, seeing as how she was still wearing a bright pink tank-top and her pair of white pajama pants, Fox had changed his clothes since waking up as he wore a plain white tee-shirt, a green pair of cargo pants, and his combat boots just in-case the time would come where he would need to be ready for battle.

"Well yesterday was a long day, we were attacked you know." Krystal said before taking a sip of coffee.

"Yeah, which reminds me, we need to figure out where this weapon that the Doombringers are looking for is." Fox said as he walked to the table and sat down in a chair next to the blue vixen.

Just then, Zivia walked into the kitchen followed by Ecks who, as he usually did, floated rather than walked, the two noticed Fox and Krystal sitting at the table, Fox cracked a grin, as did Krystal, "So..." Both Krystal and Fox said at the same time, then looked at each other, then the two broke out into laughter from the fact that both of them found Ecks and Zivia together.

"You saw them too?" Fox asked, laughing.

"Yes!" Krystal answered as she continued her laughing fit.

Both Ecks and Zivia blushed yet again, "Don't worry about it." Fox told them as her wiped a tear away from his face.

"Yes, I thought it was rather cute." Krystal said with a giggle.

Ecks, unlike his brother, didn't mind being called 'cute', but for some reason, he was a bit embarrassed from being caught literally sleeping with Zivia, he didn't understand why he was embarrassed, but he didn't care, he liked Zivia, perhaps he even...loved her.

Just then, Cross busted into the kitchen, a look of urgency on his face, "What's wrong, Cross?" A surprised Fox asked the almost out of breath vulpine.

"Look at this!" Cross yelled, showing Fox an extremely small silver sphere.

Cross placed the small object in Fox's paw and Fox examined it. he noticed a small black button sticking out from the side, and pushed it in, seconds later, the kitchen that was lit up was now completely dark, then the room filled up with what looked to be stars, it was as if the four were standing in space themselves, "What is it?" Cross wondered.

"It appears to be a map of the Lylat system," Fox said, he thought for a moment, "Cross, where did you find this?"

"In the interrogation room, it was behind one of the walls."

"Hmm, I wonder, why would the Doombringers have a complete map of the Lylat System?" Fox was deep in thought.

"Why is Corneria glowing white?" Zivia asked, Fox looked at the planet that was Corneria, and as Zivia stated, it was indeed glowing a pure white.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that everything we've gone through is just the beginning." Fox said.

* * *

12:30 PM

Everyone on the Great Fox II was fully awake, it would take a week to reach Corneria so the team had no choice but to wait, Cross decided to go to the gym, he really liked the punching bag, it gave him exercise and let him fully unload any built up anger, and Cross had plenty of that, Ecks was in meditation on the bridge, the blue vulpine was floating in the middle of the room with his eyes closed and his legs crossed, he had placed his paws on his knees and the only times he would open his eyes is if Zivia addressed him, he had grown quite attached to the orange vixen, despite only knowing her for a week, Fox and Krystal were also on the bridge, Fox was sitting in his captain's chair dozing off at times while Krystal was on the same couch as Zivia, her right paw was supporting her head as her elbow was on the arm of couch, it seemed as though everyone had succumbed to boredom except for Ecks, Zivia, and Cross, Slippy had decided to go back to bed even though he had only been awake for an hour, Falco was in the docking bay putting a new paint job on his Arwing, Fox had decided to give his room to Alexia and Hax since Alexia was fully recovered, Fox would sleep in Krystal's room.

"Hey Ecks?" Zivia asked the blue vulpine, making Ecks open his eyes with his full attention on the vixen. Zivia had changed her attire, but it wasn't much different, she had on a sky-blue tee-shirt, white shorts that only went a few inches down her thigh, it was basically the same fashion she had before, just different colors, she didn't care if her clothing, or lack of clothing was too revealing just as long as she was comfortable.

"What?" Ecks replied, waiting to hear what the vixen wanted to tell him, even though his eyes had opened, he could still concentrate enough to hover in the air. Ecks was wearing a navy blue tank-top that was just a bit darker than his fur, and a pair of white athletic mesh shorts that went a little past his knees, the shorts had black vertical stripes on the sides.

"Oh nothing, I just wanted to see those silver eyes of yours." The orange vixen said with a smile, instantly making Ecks' cheeks turn purple as he blushed.

"I...err..." The dark blue vulpine struggled for words, but couldn't find any.

Zivia reached her right paw out, and placed a finger on his lips, "Shh, don't say anything, just keep your eyes open for me." She said, taking her finger away from the vulpine's lips.

The two simply looked at each other, Ecks found his meditation more relaxing by looking into the vixen's eyes rather than having his own shut, Zivia shared the same feelings for Ecks, and both of them knew it. While all of this was going on, it seemed as though Fox and Krystal weren't even in the room, Fox and Krystal shared puzzled looks, but then soon Fox simply sat back in his chair and dozed off, Krystal leaned her head on her right paw once again as she also fell asleep, Ecks and Zivia still looked into each other's eyes, both with smiles on their faces as they continued to stare at each other.

* * *

Cross was in the gym unleashing his fury on a poor punching bag, each strike had the potential to bust the bag open as the red vulpine threw random combos together, a look of pure concentration, an hour passed until Zivia walked into the room with Ecks floating behind her, "Cross." Ecks addressed his brother, Cross stopped his assault on the punching pag but jumped out of the way so that the bag wouldn't hit him like it did the day before.

"What?" Cross asked, the red vulpine was panting a bit as sweat wasw pouring down to his shirt, making the already dark red shirt even darker.

"Remember that game we played when we were kits?"

Cross thought for a moment, "Yeah, I never could catch you." He said with a chuckle.

"Why don't we pass the time and play again?" Ecks asked with a smile.

"Alright, but watch out, this time I'll catch you." Cross smirked, exposing his left fang.

"Wait, what's this game you're talking about?" Zivia asked the dark blue vulpine beside her.

"It's a form of Tag that we made up when we were younger, I would start out as being 'it' and I would try to catch him with my telekinesis, and when I caught him, he would then try to catch me," Ecks explained, "But as he said, he never could catch me and he never will." The blue vulpine added with a smirk of his own, showing his right fang.

"Today I will." Cross said arrogantly, still with a smirk on his face.

"We'll see about that," Ecks replied as he closed his eyes, his body became enshrouded in a pure white aura, "Start running when you're ready."

Cross' eyes changed from gold to dark red, and suddenly, a red flash started moving around the large gym at incredible speed, Ecks opened his eyes which were now a dark blue, "You've become faster." He said as he looked straight ahead in front of him, not making a single motion as Cross ran around the room, a moment later, Ecks simply looked to his right and caught Cross in mid-air, "Tag." The blue vulpine said with a cocky grin, as soon as Ecks released his telekinetic hold on Cross however, Cross suddenly dashed at Ecks, the blue vulpine was caught off guard by this, but still reacted quick enough to teleport to the other side of the room, this continued for several minutes, neither of the two became exhausted in the least, but Cross was getting frustrated, every time he had Ecks caught, the blue vulpine would teleport to another area of the gym, Cross had Ecks once again in his sights, he was sure of it this time as he was running as fast as he could, but once again, at the last second, Ecks teleported to another area of the room, Cross could only guess where his brother would appear, so he jumped at a wall, and pushed off with his right foot, and ran even faster than he could imagine, fortunately his guess was correct as Ecks appeared right in front of him, Cross reached out with his right paw, and placed his index finger on Ecks' forehead.

"Tag," Cross said with a cocky grin, "See, I told you I would catch you." Cross took his finger away from Ecks' forehead.

"Well, that was fun, but I wonder what everyone else is up to." Ecks said as he turned to leave the gym, Cross and Zivia followed.

It didn't take long for the three foxes to reach the bridge, when they entered, they saw that Falco, Fox and Krystal were all there relaxing, Falco was sitting in a recliner that was recently bought, he was of course reclined as he was sleeping soundly with a magazine about Arwings resting over his eyes, causing a chuckle from Cross, the blue avian was wearing a black tank-top, a pair of blue-jeans, and black shoes, Fox was still in his captain's chair but with Krystal sitting on his lap, the two were looking over a few things on the computer terminal, Ecks, Zivia and Cross made their way towards the red couch, Zivia and Cross sat down, and Ecks floated in front of Zivia, he decided to meditate for the next few hours.

"I'm jealous that you can do that and I can't," Krystal said, turning her head to look at the hovering blue vulpine, "I'm just starting to work with telekinesis and you've already mastered it, and you're only fifteen!" She exclaimed.

"Yes but remember, my learning process was sped up, so it's no surprise about my abilities." Ecks explained.

"I don't care, I'm still jealous." The cerulean furred vixen said, turning her head back to the terminal.

Ecks looked back at Zivia, he could look at her for ages, in his mind, she was the most beautiful vixen he'd ever seen, her bright yellow eyes, the red stripe that matched her fur perfectly, but nothing could compare to her scent, it was so enticing that Ecks didn't even have to concentrate, his body became enshrouded in the white aura all by itself, the scent was a perfect mix of oranges and berries.

Cross noticed that his brother was completely relaxed, he looked from Ecks to Zivia and vice-versa, then a grin appeared on his face, "What's this? Has my brother found his love?"

"It took you this long to notice?" Ecks said, not taking his silver gaze away from the light orange vixen in front of him, "You must have the hardest head in the universe."

"I don't know about that, just look at the blue guy over there and you'll know everything about being hard-headed." Fox cut in.

"Well, he'd be a close second anyway." Ecks said, causing laughter from everyone except for a sleeping Falco.

"Whatever, at least I'm not all googly-eyed." Cross retorted, making the sides of Ecks' face turn dark purple, resulting in even more laughter at the blue vulpine's expense.

Several hours passed, every once in a while a conversation would start up, but other than that, nothing else seemed to happen, it was now eight in the afternoon, and Falco woke up an hour earlier, but soon went to bed anyway, Cross had gone to bed as well, so that left Ecks, Zivia, Fox and Krystal on the bridge, Ecks was still in meditation, looking at Zivia of course, Fox and Krystal were still looking over the computer terminal.

"Hey Krystal, can I talk with you for a moment?" Zivia asked as she stood up, "Outside?" She added, glancing at Ecks and walking towards the exit of the bridge, Krystal gave Fox a quick kiss on the cheek and followed the orange vixen.

"Did you ever have trouble?" Ecks asked suddenly as soon as the two vixens were out of sight.

"Have trouble with what?" Fox had a puzzled look on his face.

"You know...with talking to Krystal and all that," Ecks cleared is throat, "How do you do it?"

Fox expected this question to pop up, and he was prepared, "Okay I'll give it to you straight, you two seem to really like each other, just be yourself and everything will pan out."

"That's just it, I try to talk to her but all I can do is look at her, I can't find the words to say."

"Well I can't tell you what to say, you'll just have to talk to her eventually, that's the only advice I can give you, don't worry everything will work out just fine." Fox assured the blue vulpine.

"And there's something else, when we go to Corneria, I want to buy something for her."

"Like what?"

"I was hoping you would have a suggestion."

"I don't know what she likes, only you can figure that out." Fox turned back to the computer terminal.

Ecks thought for a moment, then smiled, "Thanks Fox, I knew you would help." Ecks said, a moment later the girls returned and Krystal decided to go to bed, Fox finished up with whatever he was doing and followed the cerulean vixen, leaving Ecks and Zivia alone, Ecks decided to sit beside Zivia on the couch.

"So..." Ecks started, "What's your--"

"What's your favorite color?" Zivia cut him off.

"What?" Ecks was confused at the sudden question but also confused because that's what he was going to ask.

"What's your favorite color?" Zivia repeated herself.

"I don't really have one, but you're the...most...beau..." Ecks voice started to crack, but then returned to normal, "You're the most..." Ecks cleared his throat as his muscles tensed, "BeautifulthingI'veeverseen." He said quickly, sitting back into the couch after he did so.

"Aww, thank you Ecks, that's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." Zivia said, making the blue vulpine blush as his cheeks turned purple.

"So...what's your favorite color?" Ecks asked.

"Well, right now it's silver." The vixen said with a wink, causing Ecks to blush even more, Zivia laughed.

After a few more moments of laughter from Zivia, the two looked into each other's eyes, simply appreciating one another, then they moved in closer to each other, each waiting for the other's lips to touch, but then suddenly the ship jolted, Knocking Zivia backward and Ecks forward, fortunately Ecks' face had a soft landing, but when he looked up, he saw Zivia looking down at him, a surprised look on her face, when Ecks looked back he realized where his landing was, _"Shit." _He thought as he was face to face with the vixen's chest, then he looked back up at Zivia, her surprised look was now an angry one, Ecks instantly jumped off of the couch, and backed away from the enraged vixen, "Look, Zivia, the ship," He tried convincing her that is wasn't his fault as she stood up, but to no avail, the light orange vixen was much taller than the dark blue vulpine, almost as tall as Fox, her paws were bundled into fists, Ecks started to sweat, "Uh...sorry?" Ecks said before closing his eyes, awaiting his punishment, but instead felt something soft and warm on his cheek.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Zivia smiling as her paw was rubbing the side of his face, "It's okay," She said in a calm, soothing tone, the vixen turned around walked back to the couch, her hips swayed seductively when she walked, when the vixen sat down she patted the cushion beside her, "We should get some sleep." She said in the same soothing tone as before.

Ecks rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Yeah." He said, his voice made a high squeaking sound, his eyes widened as he had just realized this.

Zivia bursted into laughter, "What the hell was that!?" The vixen could hardly contain herself as Ecks floated to the couch and sat down beside her, the vixen lay down on her side, Ecks followed, lying down behind her with chest against her back, he wrapped his arms around the vixen, as the two lay on the couch, they both knew that nothing could make this moment anymore, "Perfect." They both said in unison as they drifted off into the depths of slumber, awaiting the next day.

* * *

_**Author's Note: I know it was a bit mushy but hey, we all get mushy at times. Anyway, this took longer than I expected, and I have a decent reason this time, I've been reading other stories here and I also kind of had writer's block in a way, I was thinking too much on what to put in later chapters and not focusing on what to put in this chapter. Well, that's about it, this has been fun to write, please R&R and I hope you enjoyed, thanks for the support, until the next update, later.**_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

1:00 PM

The team had finally reached Corneria after what seemed like weeks even though it had only been a day, Everyone was at the docking bay ready to go except for Slippy who would stay on the Great Fox II, their job was to find as much info as they could about anything that had to do with the Doombringers, Fox was in his traditional green shirt and white vest, with a pair of black cargo pants, and his combat boots, he noticed that the rest of the crew wasn't prepared like he was, Falco had a white muscle-shirt, a pair of light blue jeans, and black dress shoes, Cross was wearing his favorite black, heavy metal loving tee-shirt, a black pair of jeans, and his white sneakers, Ecks had a plain blue tank-top on, a pair of black jean-shorts, and his black sneakers, Zivia was wearing a pink tee-shirt, white jeans, and a pair of white sandals, Hax wore a red tee-shirt, dark blue jeans, and a pair of black boots, and Alexia wore a sky-blue tee-shirt that alternated with white stripes, blue jeans that faded to white towards the bottom, and a pair of white sneakers, Alexia was well built, even though she was female, her muscles were proportioned perfectly, Fox thought she may even be stronger than him, the she-wolf's long black hair went down to her back and matched well with her light grey fur, as well as her sky-blue eyes.

Fox sighed, "This isn't a vacation you know." He told each of them.

"So? That doesn't mean we can't be comfortable, does it?" Zivia shot back, placing her right paw on her hip.

"Yeah, but..." Fox couldn't think of any retort, she was right, even though it was a mission, it wasn't one of which they would be fighting, "Nevermind." The vulpine said.

As the team prepared for launch, Cross was once again a bit hesitant to get into the Arwing as Fox explained what the plan was, "Falco, you will search the Northern area of the city, okay?"

"No prob, I'm just glad no one's gonna get in my way." Falco replied in his usual arrogant manner.

"Krystal and I will search the Southern area, is that okay with you Krys?" The vulpine asked politely.

"Yes Fox." The blue vixen answered, smiling at Fox's manners, it always amazed her at how much of a gentleman he was.

"Alexia and Hax, you will search the Western area, Cross will search the Eastern area, Ecks and Zivia will search the Central area," Fox added with a wink, knowing that the Central part of the city was where most of the shops were, "Does anyone have a problem?" The light brown vulpine asked, each shook their heads 'no', "Alright, then let's get going."

Cross crawled into the passenger seat of Fox's Arwing, his muscles tense as he did so, Fox knew this wouldn't change so he ignored it, "So, Ecks, you gonna ride with Falco or Krys?" He asked the dark blue vulpine.

"Neither, I can take myself," Ecks answered with a smirk, causing puzzled looks from everyone except Cross, who was sitting in the Arwing, still frozen in fear, "Just watch," The blue vulpine added as he closed his eyes, his body became engulfed by a pure white aura, and when he opened his eyes, they were the same dark blue color as his fur, "See you outside." He said before vanishing.

Zivia jumped into the small cockpit of her unique aircraft, Hax and Alexia entered the side compartment, appearantly it could hold more than one passenger, Krystal and Falco hopped into their Arwings, as did Fox, before closing the cockpit Fox told ROB to open the docking bay doors, when the doors were open, everyone was surprised to see Ecks floating out in space with his arms folded, _"See, I told you," _Ecks said using telepathy, _"I'll meet you there." _Ecks added before vanishing once again, the others blasted off towards Corneria, a loud scream escaped Cross' muzzle as the Arwing took off.

When the team arrived, they saw Ecks floating in the docking bay, Cross instantly jumped out of the Arwing as soon as the cockpit opened, falling on all fours as he breathed heavily, Ecks went to comfort his brother as the rest of the team hopped out of their aircrafts, "You'd think he'd be used to it by now." Falco said with a chuckle.

Cross was suddenly removed from his state of shock and glared at the avian, "Don't test me bird-boy." He warned.

Falco put his hands up in defense, "Hey no need to get all pissed at me, I'm just sayin'--"

"Well quit saying anything and shut...the hell...up." Cross cut the avian off coldly, Cross was beginning to like Falco but at times the avain needed to know when to shut his beak.

"Enough bickering, we need to get down to business, you all remember where to go?" Fox asked, everyone nodded in approval, when the team left the docking bay, each of them went towards their searching area, Falco to the North, Krystal and Fox to the South, Alexia and Hax to the West, Cross to the East, and of course Ecks and Zivia went to the Central part of the city, they would all meet back at the docking bay in three hours as it was now thirty minutes past one in the afternoon.

* * *

1:45 PM

Cross was searching a part of the city that he was very used to, the Projects, this area is where he spent his years as a kit when the ship crashed when he was eight, he noticed that the place hadn't changed in the least as every broken building was either inhabited by bums or gangs, Cross didn't know where to start, he saw a canine who was dressed very oddly, his shirt was much too large for him and his pants sagged down exposing the ass end of his boxers, the golden retriever also had a bandanna on his head and a backwards cap over that, "Hey!" Cross yelled out, getting the animal's attention, "Have you seen any shady characters around here lately?" The vulpine asked.

"Nope, but I got somethin' to show ya'," The canine spoke in an odd manner, "Deez nuts bitch!" The canine said, gestering to his crotch.

Cross raised an eyebrow at the weird motion, "Deez...nuts?" Cross was confused.

"You heard me asshole!" The canine said, gestering to his crotch again.

Cross became angry at the fact that all he did was ask a simple question and became insulted, he realized what the canine was saying, "One problem, you ain't got nothin' to show, DIP SHIT!" Cross yelled back, mimicking the canine's style of speech.

"Oh so you wanna scrap huh?" The golden retriever started walking towards Cross.

_"More than anything." _Cross simply thought, as soon as the canine got close enough, Cross jumped and landed a destructive roundhouse kick with his right foot on the side of the canine's head, knocking him completely out-cold, as Cross stood over the limp body of the retriever he extended his middle finger and flipped him off, "Now who's the bitch." Cross said as he turned to walk away, a few minutes passed until Cross felt a hard, blunt object hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out.

* * *

1:50 PM

Falco was walking in the high-class area of the city or, the 'rich' area as it was called, "Man, all of this high-society crap pisses me off," The avian said as he walked down the sidewalk, the houses were pretty large, but Falco just disliked the 'rich' area, probably because he grew up in the Projects, "If only they knew what it was like." He sighed.

A few minutes of walking passed, Falco turned a corner and a knife was instantly placed to his throat, held by a tiger in front of him, _"This guy's a freakin' idiot, who the hell mugs someone in broad daylight?" _Falco thought, to a normal animal, the first reaction to a situation like this would be panic and fear, but Falco was highly trained.

"Gimme your wallet, and nothing happens." The feline said, Falco immediately flipped backwards, kicking the knife away from the feline, Falco then leaped at the tiger, the avian shot his knee out and connected square with the feline's stomach, the tiger instantly doubled over in pain and began spitting up blood, Falco took this time to elbow the tiger on the back of his head, knocking him out.

"That should teach you," Falco said as he turned and continued to walk down the sidewalk, "I wonder if the others have found anything."

* * *

1:55 PM

Hax and Alexia were walking in the Eastern side of the city and decided to walk down a few alley-ways since they didn't expect any secrets to be out in the open, a half-hour later they found a door that looked rather suspicious, and Hax proceeded to knock on the door.

"Hey, open up! We promise not to hurt you unless you piss us off!" The lupine yelled over the loud knocking.

"Oh yeah, they'll come running for that, I'm sure they've got cookies too." Alexia sarcastically said.

"Oh well, I guess we'll just have to come back some other time," Hax said loud enough for anyone on the other side to hear, but just as he turned to leave, the lupine shot a straight kick at the metal door with amazing force, knocking the door backwards, "Wow! Did you see that? The door just flew right off the hinges! All by itself! Well I guess since no one's inside, we'll just let ourselves in." Hax added as the two wolves entered the room, the room's walls were a dark, blood red, .

Hax and Alexia found a doorway with beads running down the center, they entered, and found a large computer terminal, Hax sat down in the chair, after looking at the monitor for a few minutes, then laughed a little, "I can easily hack this," He said, taking a small chip out of his pocket and placing it into a small port on the side of the computer, "Just a few more seconds and we should have all of this computer's data stored in our little chip here." As Hax had predicted, the chip was ejected form the port, Hax wasted no time in putting the chip back in his pocket, the two headed back towards the docking bay.

* * *

2:10 PM

Ecks and Zivia made their way down the busy sidewalk, passing by many different shops, the streets were filled with rabid shoppers, most of which carried many bags, Ecks and Zivia found a place to sit at an empty table with an umbrella over it to shade them from the heat, a few times Zivia had to remind Ecks that he was floating and drawing attention to himself, a half-hour passed of the two foxes simply sitting at the table and chatting.

"Why did Fox even send us here? It's not like we'll find anything." Zivia said in an annoyed tone.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Ecks stood up, "I'll be right back." He added, walking off into the seemingly endless crowd Zivia waited for Ecks to return, she didn't know what he was up too, but he came back shortly.

"Here, I want to give this to you." Ecks said, placing a small jewelry box in the vixen's paws.

"What is it?" The orange vixen asked.

"Open it and you'll find out," Ecks answered with a smile, Zivia did so, revealing a necklace inside of the box, with a silver pendant, she held the necklace up in the light, it sparkled brightly, Zivia was more than happy to accept the gift, Ecks didn't need a 'thank you', the vixen's face said it all, "Here," Ecks said, taking the necklace and placing it around Zivia's neck, "It's a perfect fit." The blue vulpine said, as he looked at Zivia for a moment, the piece of jewelry only added to her beauty, Ecks meant what he said on the Great Fox II about Zivia being the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen

Zivia jumped up, gabbed Ecks' paw, and took off running, "Where are we going?" Ecks asked, a bit surprised at Zivia's sudden burst of energy, the two soon turned around a corner where no one could see them and stopped, Zivia turned to face Ecks, the dark blue vulpine was still confused as to what was happening, "Zivia, what's--"

Ecks was cut off as Zivia grabbed the blue vulpine and hugged him tightly, bringing her lips to his, the blue vulpine's eyes grew wide from surprise, but then closed as he embraced the taller vixen just as she had done with him, when she pulled away Ecks' eyes were still closed and his mouth still open, his eyes opened to the vixen smiling at him, "What was all of that for?" He asked, Ecks didn't know what to think for what had just occured, he had never experienced anything like this before, it gave him a strange feeling in the gut, he also felt a bit light-headed.

"For giving me this gift, and now it's official." The beautiful vixen said.

"What's official?" Ecks asked, still confused.

"Your first kiss..." She answered, poking his nose as if he were a kit, "...and mine." She added, turning to walk back to the table where they sat earlier.

Ecks still stood in the spot where Zivia had kissed him, wondering what had just happened, did he just become mates with the vixen? No, it was more than that, Ecks was never taught anything about love, but he had a feeling that he was experiencing it now, as Ecks turned to walk back to the table, "Get your hands off me!" He heard a familiar voice yell, Ecks dashed back to the table, where he found a large crowd, in the center of the crowd, a large wolf was holding Zivia by her left arm.

"Aw, c'mon baby, I just want to talk." The lupine said.

"Let go!" Zivia yelled again.

"I would advise you to do as she says." Ecks warned, finally making his way through the large crowd.

"Oh and what're you gonna do if I don't small-fry." The lupine arrogantly asked.

Before Ecks could answer, Zivia shot her right leg up, kicking the wolf square on the chin, causing the lupine to let go of her arm, her sandal flew off as she did this, sure her foot might have been soft, but the force behind it had "broken jaw" written all over it, Ecks was amazed at how flexible the vixen was, as the wolf staggered back from the brutal kick, Zivia shot her right leg out again and kicked the lupine square in the crotch with even more force than the kick to his face, every male in the crowd including Ecks cringed when this happened, Zivia fell to her backside with a yelp, and Ecks immediately ran to her side.

"Are you okay?" Ecks asked, extremely concerned for the vixen.

"Yeah, I think I sprained my ankle when I kicked that asshole." She answered.

"Which one?"

"Left."

Ecks inspected the vixen's left ankle, it was already starting to turn purple, forming into a bruise, "Here, let's get you up." Ecks said, placing the vixen's right arm over his shoulder and helping her to her feet, he looked back only to see that the wolf was starting to slowly stand up as well.

"That bitch is comin' with me, whether she wants to or not." The wolf said, despite his injuries.

Ecks closed his eyes and sighed, when his eyes opened they had now changed from their normal silver gleam to a dark blue color, when the lupine was standing fully upright, his body jerked backwards as he flew into a table face-first, knocking the lupine unconscious, when he looked back at the crowd, each face had either a look of fear or extreme surprise.

"Think what you will, I don't care anymore." Ecks said, the crowd then started to clap as cheers came from different areas of the group that made room for Ecks and Zivia, Ecks could've just carried Zivia with his telekinesis, but he used this as an excuse to get closer to the vixen, Zivia wasn't complaining either, she wanted to be as close to Ecks as possible for as long as she could.

As the two made their way out of the crowd, Ecks stopped, "I almost forgot," He said as a white sandal started to float in the air, the sandal floated towards Zivia, "I believe this belongs to you." The blue vulpine said to the vixen.

"Thanks." Zivia said as Ecks lifted her foot into the air using telekinesis and slipped the sandal on her foot.

"Now, let's get back to Fox so that we can take care of that ankle." Ecks said as the two walked towards the docking bay.

* * *

Cross woke up in a dark room, the back of his head hurt a bit, the dark red vulpine looked around to obverse his surroundings, the room wasn't much, basically a shit-hole, scrap metal in each corner of the room, a worn out couch with springs sticking out of it, there was very little light, Cross could only see what was close to him, he figured that the light was fixed on him, however there was a digital clock in one corner of the room, sitting on a desk, it read 3:45 PM, "I really gotta get back to Fox soon," He said, the vulpine tried to move but couldn't, he found that he was sitting in a chair which was bolted to the floor, his legs were tied to the front legs of the chair by a thick rope, his paws were tied behind his back, he tried to break them, but couldn't, "Damn." He said calmly.

"They're plasma cuffs, you can't get out of 'em." A voice said from the shadows.

"Who the hell are you?" Cross asked.

A lupine emerged from the shadows of the room, "Name's Wolf, Wolf O'Donnel."

* * *

_**Author's Note: Yeah yeah I know, a bit too kissy kissy blech in the part with Ecks and Zivia, but hey, they got something goin'. This chapter was fun to write, even though my crotch started to hurt when I was writing a certain part, yeah...anyway thanks for reading and please review if you liked it or not and remember, constructive criticism is always welcome, but if you flame me I WILL KILL YOU! No I'm just kidding, OR MAYBE I'M NOT! No I'm kidding, but seriously, don't flame, or I will cry...in a corner...with a knife.**_


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Wolf O'Donnel, where had Cross heard that name before? He couldn't figure it out, he knew that name from something but couldn't place anything to it, oh well, his only thoughts now were why this lupine had kidnapped him, "What do you want?" Was the first thing that popped into his head.

"You fight pretty good for a pip-squeak, kid." Wolf said, pulling out a blue fold-up chair and sitting in it with his front facing the back end of the chair and folding his arms on the top of it.

"So? Your point?" Cross growled.

"I want you to join my crew, with you on our side we could take out anyone." Wolf apparently didn't hear what Cross said about meeting back with Fox.

"And why would I do that?"

"Why?" Wolf stood up, "This is why." He said before punching Cross square in the nose, the red vulpine started bleeding profusely but simply smirked.

"You call that a punch? Better get your purse." Cross insulted as he spit out a chunk of blood, right into the lupine's face, silence filled the room, but then the lupine started to laugh.

"You know, I like you kid, what's your name?" Wolf asked in mid-chuckle.

"Cro--" The vulpine was cut-off by an alarm.

"Boss! We have an intruder!" A deep, smooth voice came over the speaker.

"Who?!" Wolf yelled into the speaker after pressing a small red button.

"It's Fox and that beautiful Krystal he's always with." The voice emphasized 'beautiful'.

_"Fox? What the hell is he doing here?"_ Wolf wondered, looking back at Cross, "Wait a minute..." Wolf thought some more as he placed his paw on his chin, "You don't--"

"Yep." Cross answered with his signature smirk before the lupine could finish.

Wolf sighed, "Damn, it's a shame I have to do this." He said, pulling a blaster from his side and aiming the barrel directly at Cross' face, which still had an arrogant smirk on it, showing his left fang.

"Drop it," A similar voice ordered as a knife was placed to the lupine's throat, held by none other than Fox, who came into view from the shadows, Wolf did as he was told.

"Thanks Fox, even though I would've escaped sooner or later anyway." Cross said, his paws were still behind his back, but he lifted them over his head and to the front of his body, making a loud cracking sound as he did this.

"Give him the key Wolf," Fox ordered, the lupine proceeded to do so, slowly handing Cross a small silver round flat device, Cross inserted the device into the opening of his cuffs, and the blue plasma around his wrists vanished, "Good, now we're gonna leave and if you follow, I won't hesitate to kill you." Fox warned as he backed away from the lupine, Cross ripped through the rope on his legs and followed Fox.

The two vulpine got to the door, "This opens inward," Cross said, ripping the handle off of the rusted metal door, "There, now he can't follow us." Cross said as the door closed, loud banging could be heard on the metal as soon as Fox and Cross left.

The two vulpine ran down the halls of the small base, the halls were large however, large enough that even if four animals stood right next te each other, there would still be room for at least three more, it was as they ran down the halls they saw Panther and Leon blocking their path, Fox and Cross took action though, Fox slid under Leon's legs, his momentum carrying him the distance he needed to slide far enough, Cross took a different approach as he leaped into the air, with one smooth front-flip he cleared the feline by at least ten feet, "I'd love to stay and chat but we gotta go!" Fox yelled as the two vulpine ran to the exit.

Krystal was standing outside of an abandoned building, the bricks on the building were worn out as they were brown and even chipped, any metal that was near the building was rusted, the cerulean furred vixen stared at the shiny piece of metal she had in her paw, it looked like handle to a blaster of some sorts, this piece of metal was different from the other scrap around the building, it was pure silver, not a single spot of rust, Krystal could only assume that this was something that the Doombringers were looking for, just then Fox and Cross emerged from a doorway, "Are we ready to go?" Krystal asked.

"Yeah, let's get back to the ship, we have what we came for." Fox answered as the three foxes dashed off towards the docking bay.

* * *

4:15 PM

"I...hate...flying." Cross said in-between labored breaths after jumping from the cockpit of Fox's Arwing and falling on all fours once again, Ecks helped Zivia out of the cockpit of her aircraft, her ankle was badly sprained but fortunately she didn't have to use her feet in any way to pilot her ship.

Fox had shown everyone the item they had found in Wolf's base, Hax gave Fox the small chip in which he stored the data from the computer he and Alexia found, "I'll give this to Slippy, he can analyze it," Fox said, turning towards Zivia and Ecks, he looked down at Zivia's ankle, "Ouch." The vulpine said.

"Yeah tell me about it." Zivia returned in her usual attitude.

"Is it okay if I take Zivia to the medical bay?" Ecks asked.

"Go right ahead, you didn't even need to ask." Fox answered with a chuckle.

"Thanks." Zivia and Ecks both said with a smile, they exited the docking bay and were on their way to the medical bay, Ecks supporting Zivia's weight as he did on Corneria.

"Now we just need to figure out what this is." Fox said, lookng at the unique piece of metal in his paw, Cross recovered from his ordeal and took the metal piece from Fox.

"I've seen this before." Cross said while examining the object.

"What? Where?" Fox asked, surprised.

"When I was still being experimented on I saw some blue-prints of it in the lab, all I know is that it's a piece of the weapon that the Doombringers are looking for." Cross informed, handing the small metal piece back to Fox.

"We still need to find out where the Doombringers are located, I have a hunch it's somewhere in the Grexian System, but it won't be easy to find," Fox sighed and placed his paw on his forehead, "Dammit! We need more clues!" Fox was becoming extremely frustrated as he slammed his fist onto a nearby wall.

Krystal put a paw on the vulpine's shoulder, "Fox, don't get so bent out of shape, I know it isn't much but at least we found something, and there is a chance we could find more on the data chip, right?"

Fox looked at Krystal and smiled, she always knew how to comfort him, anytime he became frustrated with something, her face was all he needed to see, "Yeah, thanks Krys." Fox said, staring into the vixen's luscious blue eyes, forgetting that Cross, Hax, Alexia and Falco were still in the docking bay.

"Like I've said before you two, get a room." Falco said, making Fox and Krystal snap out of their trance and looked at the blue avian.

"We already have one thank you very much." Krystal said, "Maybe you should get one with yourself." The vixen added with a smirk, resuilting in laughter from everyone except for Falco of course.

"Whatever, I'm goin' to bed." Falco walked to the exit of the docking bay.

"To get your beauty sleep?" Cross asked jokingly as the blue bird left, making everyone laugh even more.

When the laughter subsided, "I'm gonna go get some sleep," Cross told them, "It's been a long day, I beat up a 'gangster' and got kidnapped, I think I'm done for today, good night everyone." Cross said as he walked to the entrance to the halls of the Great Fox II and left.

Fox turned to Alexia and Hax, "I'm going to see if I can find Slippy so I can give him this chip, you guys can go to the bridge or you can use my room to sleep in, I had ROB configure the door to open to both of your paw prints." Fox said, leaving the docking bay, Krystal had decided to follow, Hax and Alexia went to the kitchen to get something to eat.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the medical bay, Ecks was taking care of Zivia's sprained ankle as she was sitting on the bed with her left leg crossed over the right, "I've never healed anyone while they were awake before, so I don't know if this will hurt or not, I'm sorry if it does." Ecks said to the vixen as a white aura engulfed his right paw.

"It's alright, either way it won't hurt anymore afterwards." Zivia said with a smile, she was amazed at how much of a gentleman Ecks was, despite his age, he was always considerate of others, Ecks was different than any other male she had ever met, when he assaulted the wolf on Corneria he was just so...calm.

Ecks held his paw just above the bruise on Zivia's ankle, as he closed his eyes, Zivia felt a strange tingling in her foot, but that soon turned to a relaxing warmth, she couldn't believe how exuberant this felt as she leaned back, supporting her upper body with her elbows as she closed her eyes, it felt like a massage to her, the pressure put to her foot was just right, it was as if all of her troubles washed away as she became enticed in a far off land of soothing comfort, the vixen's body became completely limp, showing no signs of movement.

Ecks chuckled, he could hear the vixen's every thought, he didn't expect the healing to be this comfortable, he applied a bit more of his power into healing the vixen, curious to what her reaction would be.

The pressure slightly increased on Zivia's ankle, making the feeling much more enjoyable, she sank into the bed as her body almost felt numb from the pleasurable experience, Zivia slowly fell back into a laying position flat on her back, the vixen let out a low growl, almost a purr, of satisfaction as a smile of complete relaxation washed over the bright orange vixen's face, but then in an instant it was all swept away as if it were a dream, she opened her eyes to see a smiling Ecks, "The healing is done." He told her.

Zivia was glad to see that the bruise was gone but also a bit upset that her comfort had to end so abruptly, _"I should get hurt more often." _She thought.

"Don't go doing that now, I would hate to see you injured again," Ecks said, turning to leave the medical bay, "I'll be back in a minute, I'm going to find you something to eat and drink." He added as he left, leaving the vixen to wonder about what she had just experienced.

Ecks floated down the halls of the Great Fox II, he thought about Zivia the entire way there, but then he remembered that he didn't ask what she wanted, _"Zivia?" _Ecks asked through telepathy, linking their minds together.

"What? Who's there?" Zivia asked, startled by Ecks' voice.

_"It's me, Ecks, I'm talking to you right now with my telepathy, is there anything specific you would like?" _The blue vulpine asked.

"Surprise me." She answered.

Ecks made his way to the kitchen, where he found Alexia and Hax both sitting at a small round table each with a can of soda, Hax's can was purple so Ecks could only assume it was purple soda while Alexia's can was orange so he could only assume it was orange soda, "How's it goin' lover-boy?" Hax joked.

"Very well thanks." Ecks grinned, even though they didn't find much on Corneria, it was still nice to see that their spirits weren't dampened.

"So what are you doing here?" Alexia asked, taking a drink from the orange can of soda.

"Finding something for Zivia." The dark blue vulpine answered casually.

"Aww, he's in love." Hax said as he made a kissy face, resulting in laughter from Alexia and a chuckle from Ecks as he opened the freezer door of the refrigerator and pulled out a bucket of chocolate ice-cream but at the same time pulling a small bowl out of a cabinet using his telekinesis, Ecks preferred to do most tasks with his abilities, as doing so gave him a chance to not only multi-task, but it also assured him that his powers weren't dissolving, the lid of the bucket of ice cream opened as Ecks had also found a large spoon, a glass was also hovering above the sink with a gallon of milk, the milk started to seemingly pour itself into the glass from the gallon as the spoon was scooping the ice-cream into the bowl while Ecks just floated there and watched.

"Don't tease him about it, remember our first date?" Alexia asked the black lupine.

"How could I forget? The sun was going down, we were on the beach, layin' with each other, great times." The wolf said as his mind started to wander off.

"Yeah, until you got pinched on the tail by that crab and started chasing after it with a stick." The light grey she-wolf said while laughing.

The milk was done pouring and the small bowl was filled with ice-cream, Ecks put the bucket back in the freezer and the milk back in the refrigerator using telekinesis of course, "Well, it's time to get back to Zivia." Ecks said as he floated to the exit of the kitchen with the bowl of ice-cream and glass of milk floating in front of him.

"See ya' later kid, and remember, don't jump to things too soon." Hax told the vulpine.

"I wouldn't even think of doing that, Zivia means too much to me, thanks anyway." Ecks left the kitchen.

"Kid's too smart for his own good." Hax said, closing his eyes.

Ecks went into the medical bay, the floating glass of milk and the bowl of ice-cream were placed on a small wooden table beside the bed, Ecks looked to the bed and noticed Zivia wasn't there, when he looked up however, there she was, on the other side of the room, bending over with her backside to Ecks, bare backside that is, Ecks' jaw dropped and his eyes widened as he stopped floating and became entranced by the vixens posterior, like the rest of her body, it too was perfect, the curves exceeded limitations, the red line that shot down her face not only covered the front of her body, but the back as well as it ran down her back to her tail, the line also went past her tail, splitting at her legs and shooting down to the heels of her feet, her tail swayed back and forth, moving her scent around and into Ecks' nose, it was almost too much to take, the smell, the sight, the beauty, Zivia then stood up straight, pulling a pair of light pink underwear over her backside, she turned around, luckily for Ecks, the vixen was wearing a pure white tank-top, if that part of her was exposed Ecks' might have had a heart-attack.

"Oh, hey Ecks." The bright orange vixen said, smiling.

Ecks' eyes, mouth, and body didn't move at all as he was still in his trance.

"Ecks? Are you okay?" Zivia moved closer, a serious look on her face.

No response.

"Ecks?" Zivia waved her paw in front of his face, but still no response.

The vixen was now just inches apart from the dark blue vulpine, but his eyes were still fixed in the same position as before, now staring at her chest unfortunately, suddenly, Ecks' body fell limply to the ground as he fainted, "Ecks? Ecks! What's wrong?!" Zivia yelled, coming to the aid of the vulpine, but he didn't wake up, "Quick! Some thing's wrong with Ecks!" The vixen shouted.

* * *

Back on Corneria, Wolf walked into a small room, the room had a holographic television, a couch, and a bed, anything other than that and the room was simply a shit hole as the paint was peeling off the walls and the old wooden floor creaked every time Wolf took a step, he walked over to the couch and pulled out his lap-top and opened it, General Pepper's face appeared on the screen, "Did Fox retrieve the item?" The hound asked.

"Yeah, tell me somethin' old timer, why the hell didn't you just give Fox the part?" Wolf asked, rubbing his eyes, "Instead of him almost killing me."

"We must make sure that Fox and his team are on their toes, they must remember that anything could go wrong at any moment's notice," Pepper answered, "Besides, it provides a challenge, now I must leave, Pepper out." The old hound said.

"Yeah whatever." Wolf replied, closing the laptop, the lupine sat back as he sank into the couch, "I hope you can do it kid, for the sake of everyone in Lylat."

* * *

_"Where am I?" Cross said as he was standing in a dark room of nothing, everything was completely pitch black, Cross couldn't even see the floor he was standing on, if there even was a floor, another fox emerged from the shadows who looked exactly like Cross, except for his pupils which were red and his iris were pitch black, and the fact that his tail was tipped by red and the rest was black._

_"I remember you," Cross growled, "I know you're me, so what the hell do you want?" Cross bared his fangs._

_"I'm not just you, I'm your rage." The other vulpine said, his voice was a bit deeper than Cross'._

_"My...rage?" Cross asked._

_"Rage, anger, hate, call it what you want, it will none the less consume you, and you will become the true weapon you are."_

_"I won't let you win." Cross said._

_"I don't have to 'let' me anything, I take what I want."_

_The two vulpine stared each other down, "Remember what your father did to you Cross, he threw you away like a common piece of trash, and your mother didn't even try to stop him." The other vulpine said, walking towards Cross._

_"No." Cross said as he started to hold his head in pain._

_"Your nothing but a killer, that is the only thing you will ever be." The vulpine continued to approach Cross_

_"NO!!" Cross screamed._

_The vulpine whispered into Cross' ear, "And the best part is, your own brother didn't even look for you, even though he knew what Chaos did."_

_That was all Cross could take, the other vulpine became one with Cross, literally, and let out an ear-splitting roar._

Cross awoke in his bed, sweating, breathing heavily, he looked at the digital clock on the desk to his right, it read 11:30 PM, "Just...a dream." Cross said between labored breaths, the dark vulpine recovered and stood up, he was still wearing his black shirt, black jeans, and white sneakers, suddenly, his chest and head started to hurt, the throbbing pain became worse with each second, he fell on the bed, shaking and squirming and punching the bed, he gasped for air, then passed out, when he awoke, his eyes were completely flushed over with black, not just his normally golden iris no, both of his eyes were pitch black, the dark red vulpine stood up calmly and smirked, "I am Rage."

* * *

_**Author's Note: Yeah that's right, I totally just went there, stuff's goin' down in the next chapter...bitches. Anyway, enough of my idiocy, this would've been done yesterday but, I couldn't figure out what to write...for one sentence, I knew everything I was going to write, except for one sentence, seriously, I shit you not, just...one...sentence, but now I'm wondering if I should change the rating to M for that little stunt I pulled with Zivia (cough) bare ass (cough), I'm still new here to an extent and I don't quite know some of the rules or guidelines or whatever, so if someone could tell me I'd gladly appreciate it. Thanks for reading, and remember to review so that you can FEED MY EGO!!! No I'm kidding, but seriously, please review whether you liked it or not and thanks for the support.**_

Ignorant? Me? Ha, I don't even know what that means. ~Metallic Soul


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

* * *

_**Author's Note: Fifteen chapters, WOOOOO PARTY!!! That is all.**_

_**Song of the day if one was needed: Souls of Black - Testament**_

* * *

11:30 PM

Hax ran down the hall to Cross' door, Alexia right beside him, "Cross! We heard something, are you alright in there?" Hax asked through the door.

No answer from the other side.

"Cross!" Hax yelled, hoping for a response.

"Who is this 'Cross'?" A voice asked, it sounded just like Cross, but deeper, and somewhat demonic, "I am Rage."

As soon as these words were spoken, the door to Cross' room blasted open, Alexia and Hax jumped out of the way quickly, avoiding what could have been disaster as the metal door slammed against the wall with amazing force, "What the hell?!" Hax exclaimed, Cross walked out of the room, he turned to his right, where Hax and Alexia stood, something wasn't right about this, Hax couldn't tell at first, but when he took a longer look, the lupine noticed that Cross' eyes were now completely black, "You're not Cross," Hax said, glaring at the small vulpine and taking his fighting stance with his paws in his pockets, standing straight up, "Alexia, go find Fox and the others, I can't take him alone, but I can hold him off."

"But what if--"

"GO!" The lupine yelled, cutting Alexia's sentence off.

"Be careful." The she-wolf said before running off in the other direction.

"So, Rage was it? I don't know what you are, but I'm guessing you don't want a hug." Hax stated.

"I am all of the anger and hate that has built up inside of him, I am Rage, I am his 'flaw', as soon as Cross had enough hatred for Chaos, I took over his body." The vulpine said with an evil smile.

"Yeah that makes sense." Hax sarcastically said.

"My sole purpose is to destroy everything," An evil scowl appeared on the dark vulpine's face, "Starting with you."

Rage dashed at Hax, the lupine couldn't move out of the way in time as Rage pinned him against the wall by his throat, "It will take some time to get used to this body now that I am flesh, but it seems you lack the fighting ability to defeat me as I am."

"You think I'm this weak?" Hax chuckled, grabbing the paw around his neck, and pulling, surprisingly Rage's grip started to loosen, "You don't even know." Hax said before shoving the paw away and before Rage could react, the lupine's knee slammed into his stomach, causing him to gasp for air, then a fist landed square on the side of the vulpine's face, knocking him onto his back and rolling several feet away.

Rage jumped to his feet and looked at Hax who had slid his paws in his pockets once again ready for the dark red vulpine, Rage dashed at Hax again, but this time the lupine saw it coming and leaned back as Rage's claws slashed his shirt, Rage kept slashing at Hax, each deadly swipe coming closer, Rage was getting faster, and Hax couldn't keep this up for much longer, he had to do something drastic, the lupine moved into the attack, Rage's right claw became stuck in Hax's stomach, Rage grinned, but Hax slammed the vulpine against the wall with his left knee, causing blood to come out of the vulpine's mouth.

"Hax! It's me, Cross, I think you got rid of him." The red vulpine said.

"Show me." Hax wasn't sure if the vulpine was lying or not, Cross looked up at the lupine, his eyes were back to their normal golden shine, Hax took his knee away from Cross' gut, but as soon as he did this Cross eyes turned completely black again.

"How foolish you are." Rage said as ripped his claws out of Hax's stomach, causing the wolf to double over in pain, massive amounts of blood leaked everywhere on the floor as Hax fell to his front from the pain of the large gash in his stomach, "I would kill you here and now, but since you proved to be a challenge, I'll leave a present for Fox." Rage said with an evil snicker.

* * *

Ecks awoke on the floor of a very bright room, he couldn't make out the figures before him as his vision was extremely blurry, but the closest thing to him, he couldn't make it out at all but it was a very bright pink, "Okay, what exactly happened?" A voice asked, Ecks could tell it was Fox.

"I was changing my clothes and then I turned around and Ecks was standing there, I tried to talk to him but he didn't say anything, I walked up to him and he still didn't say anything, he just passed out." The voice answered Fox, it was obvious that the voice belonged to Zivia.

Ecks heard someone start to laugh, "He saw your ass!" The voice yelled, still laughing, it was Falco.

"Hmm, maybe the sight was a bit too much for him to take." Another voice added with a different accent, it was Krystal.

Ecks was trying to shake the blurriness from his eyes, no one noticed that he was waking up, as his vision cleared, he looked straight ahead towards the ceiling, he saw a bright orange tail with red lines just inches away from his face, the familiar scent of oranges and berries was enticing, this was Zivia's tail, Ecks looked to his right so that the beautiful smell didn't make him pass out, unfortunately he looked straight at the vixen's posterior, luckily she had a pink pair of pajama pants on this time, when Ecks noticed he was looking at the vixen's backside, the sides of his face turned purple, he turned his gaze to his left which, and he thanked the Goddess for this, nothing but a wall was there, he loved the sight of Zivia, but he needed to look away for now so that he didn't pass out again from the sight.

"No, that couldn't have been why he passed out, could it?" Zivia questioned.

Ecks decided to speak up, "Yes Zivia, I saw your...backside and that is why I fainted." He said, embarrassed to admit it.

Zivia turned around with her full attention on Ecks, "Really?" She questioned.

"Yes, you're too beautiful for your own good." Ecks said, his cheeks were now a bright purple, they could now possibly melt ice.

"Aww, that's so sweet." Krystal and Zivia said at the same time, Zivia smiled at Ecks and sat down beside where he lay, she pulled him up and hugged him tightly, causing the dark blue vulpine to blush even more, if that was possible.

"He's only fifteen, and he's already better at talking to women than I am." Fox said with a chuckle.

Just then, out of nowhere, Alexia ran into the room, startling everyone, "There's something going on with Cross ! Come on!" She yelled as she ran out of the room and down the hall, the others followed.

The team ran down the halls of the Great Fox II, they came to Cross' room, a large metal door leaning against the wall directly across from the room, the door was a large dent in the middle of it, the team walked a bit further down the hall, cautiously, a few seconds later they found Hax, propped up against the wall, sitting up, the lupine had claw tears all around his chest and arms and had already lost a substantial amount of blood, Alexia ran to the lupine's side.

"Vaughn!" She yelled out of concern, tears streaming down her face, taking his paw in her's.

"Hey babe, what's up?" Hax asked, trying to keep his usual attitude, despite the fact he was on the verge of death.

"What happened to you?" The light grey she-wolf asked, her face still wet with tears.

Hax chuckled a bit, "You should see the other guy." He then passed out from the blood loss.

Fox examined the writing on the walls, it was in blood and read, 'Come to the gym, I need a challenge.'

"Slippy, Falco, take Hax to the medical bay, Alexia, you're going with them, Ecks and I will take care of this, Zivia, Krystal, you two stay here." Fox said.

"Wait, before you take him," Ecks said as a white ball of energy escaped from his paw and into the large wound on Hax's stomach, "That's all I can do, when he wakes up, the injury should be healed."

Falco and Slippy did as they were told, Alexia stayed for a few moments, "Will Vaughn be alright?" She asked, her sky-blue eyes still had tears in them.

"Yes, his injuries aren't fatal, he should be okay, but you need to be with him." Fox said in a comforting tone.

"Okay, be careful." Alexia then took off down the hall to the medical bay.

"We're coming with you." Zivia told him.

"I agree." Krystal said.

"No Zivia, I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you." Ecks said.

"I can handle myself, didn't you see what I did to that creep on Corneria?" She asked with a grin.

"But you don't know what my brother is capable of, I don't know what's going on, but my brother could rip you apart." Ecks pleaded for the vixen to stay.

"Don't argue with them Ecks, you'll always lose," Fox said as he started walking in the direction of the gym, "Let's go, I have a feeling this won't be easy."

The four foxes made their way to the gym, when they entered, they saw Cross standing by one of the punching bags, "Hello...brother." The red vulpine said with an evil smirk.

"I won't fight you Cross." Ecks said, stepping forward.

"I am not Cross," The vulpine said, placing his paw on the punching bag to his left, "I am Rage," He added, tearing through the bag with his claws, the sand spilling out onto the floor in seemingly endless amounts, "And if you will not fight me," Rage dashed at Ecks, Ecks didn't react however and was lifted by the throat, "Then you are weak." The dark red vulpine said, throwing the blue vulpine into the wall to his left, Ecks' body impacted on the wall with destructive force, making a dent the size of Ecks' body in the metal wall, the blue vulpine fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Ecks!" Zivia yelled, then turned to the red vulpine in front of her, "You BASTARD!!" She screamed, charging at the vulpine.

"Zivia wait!" Fox tried to stop the enraged vixen, but it was too late, she was already running at Rage, with no intent to stop.

Zivia ran at Rage with the intent to kill, Rage took a swipe at her head with his claws, however the vixen ducked underneath his arm, Rage was surprised at how quick the vixen moved, he never even saw the bright orange foot that connected with his chin, Rage stumbled a few feet backwards, trying to catch his balance, Zivia didn't stop with that kick no, she started an onslaught of many punches to the red vulpine's head and stomach, alternating between them, it looked as though Zivia's anger could propel her to victory, that is until Rage caught one of her punches in his paw, he landed a heavy fist into the vixen's mid-section, lifting her up as he did so, and slamming her onto her back on the metal floor, Fox and Krystal charged at the vulpine next, but he flipped over the two foxes, Krystal reacted quickly as she pulled out her staff, pointing it at where Rage was going to land, a fireball started to build at the end of the weapon, growing larger and larger, the large fireball was as big as Rage's head, it shot towards the vulpine, but Rage was light on his feet as he dodged the large ball of flames that would've certainly killed him, as soon as Rage landed on the ground, he turned into a red flash that dashed around the room seemingly at the speed of light, Krystal and Fox stood their ground, anticipating when the evil vulpine would strike, Fox saw the red flash moving towards Krystal, he jumped into the air and landed a heavy roundhouse kick to the side of Rage's jaw, sending him several feet and crashing him into a wall, Krystal dashed towards the red vulpine, hoping to freeze him as an extremely cold burst of wind and frost started to shoot from the tip of her staff, but Rage grabbed the staff as soon as the blue vixen was close enough.

"No magic today." Rage said, pulling Krystal towards him by her staff and landing a heavy punch to her chest which sent her flying into a weight machine, knocking her out.

"Krystal!" Fox yelled as he was the only one still able to combat Cross' alter-ego.

Rage ran towards Fox at incredible speed, Fox did a handspring back-flip just as Rage was close enough, the toe of Fox's boot hit the red vulpine's jaw, sending him into a back-flip of his own, Fox quickly took his chance as he landed his heel in a spin-kick on the back of Rage's skull in the middle of his flip, causing his momentum to make flip forward, Fox wasn't done with his attack as he shot his right straight up, slamming square into the red vulpine's muzzle, it looked as if Fox had won the battle as the red vulpine lay with his back to the floor, seemingly defeated, a sigh of relief escaped Fox's muzzle, but it was too soon the celebrate, Rage jumped up quickly, grabbing Fox by the throat and punching him in the gut twice with extreme force, as Rage held the light brown vulpine by the throat in his right paw, he pulled back his free paw with his claws bared, ready to deliver the final, deadly slash, but then a heavy object hit Rage hard on the side of his head, he dropped a limp Fox and held his own head in pain, he looked to see a dumbbell on the floor next to him.

"We're not done asshole!" Rage looked behind him to see the one who threw the object at him, it was Zivia, she was breathing heavily and in no shape to fight.

"That foolish mistake will cost you your life." Rage said as he leaped into the are, his claws bared, Zivia could not defend against this as she was in too much pain but, just as Rage was inches from delivering the killing blow to Zivia, an unknown force held the vulpine in the air, and slammed him head-first to the ceiling, Rage was then slammed against the floor onto his back, as he slowly stood up, he saw Ecks floating in the air, his arms were held out to his sides as a white aura surrounded the dark blue vulpine's body.

"You may be my brother, but I'll be damned if I let you get away with hurting Zivia," Ecks said, closing his eyes, "IT ENDS HERE!!" Ecks screamed as his eyes opened, they were now completely flushed over with a pure white, a battle of extreme proportions was about to commence. Brother, against brother.

* * *

_**Author's Note: Oh noes, what's gonna happen? Wow, fifteen chapters, I'm so happy. This was extremely fun to write, I hope I did a good job with the action here, I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Damn, I love action. Sorry about the chapter being short. Anyway please review if you liked it or not and until the next update, later.**_

Ignorant? Me? Ha, I don't even know what that means ~Metallic Soul


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Ecks' entire body was filled in a pure white aura, his face showed a look of pure fury, and his eyes were glowing a pure white as the dark blue vulpine floated in the air, across from him stood a dark red vulpine, his eyes were pitch black, Rage leaped at Ecks, but as he tried to drive his claws into the blue vulpine's face, he met an invisible force which sent him back against the wall with amazing impact, the red fox hit the floor, he stood up, a look of fear on his face, he now knew he didn't have a chance, Ecks' true power had been revealed, but Rage became angered at the fact that he was actually afraid.

Zivia was still standing, witnessing the spectacle, "Unbelievable." Was all she could muster to say.

"I will not be defeated by the likes of you!" Rage yelled as he leaped into the air again, but as he did this, Ecks held out his paw, a white ball of energy starting to form in it, a second later, a sphere was in Ecks' paw, completely white with a small blue sphere inside of it, as Rage drew closer to Ecks, the white ball of energy erupted from his paw, shooting towards the red vulpine, unfortunately for Rage, the energy ball hit him square in the chest, knocking him backwards, as the red vulpine flew back, Ecks looked at a barbell that had two fifty pound weight attached to each side, it suddenly flew at Rage, the red vulpine slammed against the wall, but before he could even drop to the floor, the heavy barbell slammed into him, pinning Rage against the wall as he screamed in pain, Ecks floated to Rage's position, the two vulpine were at least twenty feet above the floor, Ecks came face-to-face with the evil vulpine, set to kill.

"Ecks!" Cross voice came back, "You wouldn't kill your own brother would you?" He said, his eyes were back to their normal gold.

"Brother?" Ecks asked as his eyes changed back to their silver gleam.

An evil smirk appeared on Cross' face as his eyes filled up with blackness, "Too easy." Rage said as he threw the barbell off of him and grabbed Ecks by the throat, the two started falling to the floor, Rage held Ecks towards the ground, when they hit, Ecks' body smashed against the ground with such a force that it knocked Fox and Krystal's limp bodies backwards.

"ECKS!!" Zivia screamed in horror.

When the dust settled, Rage was left standing over the damaged blue vulpine, "Now nothing stands in my way, maybe I'll start with that little vixen of his." Rage snickered as he walked towards Zivia.

Ecks' eyes shot open, once again flushed over with white, "But I'm not finished with you." He said, levitating into the air, Rage looked back, to his horror, Ecks was alive and well, the blue vulpine shot his right paw forward, a large white beam erupting from it, Rage couldn't move out of the way in time as the beam shot straight through him, Rage felt nothing as the beam held him in the air, he was then let down and looked at Ecks, laughing.

"That was your attack? How pitiful!" He snickered.

"Look behind you." Ecks said with a smirk, showing his right fang, Rage did this and saw a familiar dark red vulpine standing behind him, he turned back to face Ecks, who was now floating right in front of him.

"So this is your true form," Ecks said, examining the vulpine, the fur colors were reversed from those of Cross, as Rage had pitch black fur, the X on his head was blood red, and the tip of his tail was also red, Rage's eyes were black, except for the iris, which was red, and now had a look of terror in them, "Now I don't have to hold back." Ecks grinned.

"I want a piece too." Cross said, glaring at the black vulpine and turning his head to each side, making a popping noise.

Cross jumped into the air and landed a heavy roundhouse kick to the back of Rage's head, sending him flying towards the wall to his right, Ecks manipulated the air into a sphere and shot it towards Rage, as soon as the black vulpine hit the wall, the sphere of air impacted on his back, causing immense pain, Ecks lifted Rage up into the air with his telekinesis and held him at least fifteen feet above the floor, Ecks held out his paw and pointed at Rage with his index finger, suddenly, the black vulpine's body became engulfed in blue flames, causing the black vulpine to let out a shriek of pain, Cross leaped high into the air and came down on the black fox with an axe kick onto his stomach, slamming him into the floor back-first, Rage couldn't fight anymore, he was too injured, he had been defeated, Ecks floated to where the vulpine lay.

"You can kill me, but I will return, hate will always reside inside of him." Rage said as blood came from his mouth.

"Thanks for the warning, but I think we've got it covered." Ecks said as his paw started to glow pure white, even brighter than the aura around his body, the blue vulpine placed his paw on Rage's chest, and then, the black vulpine became surrounded by a white aura, much like the one around Ecks' body, but suddenly, Rage exploded, shooting blood in all directions of the room, Ecks' eyes turned back to their normal silver shine as the aura faded from his body, which was covered in blood.

Zivia was still standing, she fell to the floor though as her body had was in extreme pain from being slammed on her back in such a harsh manner, "Zivia!" Ecks yelled, flying to the vixens aid, "Are you okay?" Ecks asked, tears in his eyes.

"Yeah, you didn't think that little punk could take me out did you?" Zivia said, her eyes heavy from exaustion, Fox came to as well.

"Cross, we need to get them to the medical bay." Ecks told his brother.

Cross walked over to Fox to help him up, "I can take myself, you carry Krys, she's in worse shape than I am." Fox said.

"Okay then." Cross said, picking Krystal up with the greatest of ease, it was funny, Krystal was a good nine inches taller than Cross and at least thirty pounds heavier, and Cross held her on his shoulder as if it was nothing.

"Meet you in the medical bay." Cross said before dashing out of the doors to the gym.

"So, will that happen again anytime soon?" Fox asked the blue vulpine who was helping Zivia to her feet.

"No, during the fight I went into Rage's mind, which is also where I found Cross, he let Rage get to him by telling him that I knew what Chaos did, and he told him that I did nothing about it, the truth is that I never knew what happened to Cross, they told me that he was killed in a training exercise, I found out the truth one day before you guys showed up at the base, so Rage shouldn't come back at all." Ecks explained.

"Well it looks like we won't be searching for any bases for a while." Fox said as he chuckled, which caused him to cringe a bit as his ribs were in pain.

"Let's get back to the medical bay, I need to heal you guys as much as I can." Ecks said as he and Zivia floated down the hall with Fox limping beside them.

Hax was sitting up in the bed with Alexia in the chair beside him, Falco and Slippy were also in the medical bay, waiting for Fox and the others, "What the hell is taking so long?" Falco paced back and forth in the room.

"Don't worry, they'll be back." Just as Alexia said this, Cross walked in, holding Krystal over his shoulder.

"You!" Hax yelled, glaring at the red vulpine.

"Hey, calm down, this time it's really me, Fox and Ecks are right behind me," Cross told them as he walked over to the empty bed beside Hax and laying her down, "See? It's truly me."

As Cross predicted, Fox and Ecks walked into the room, Fox sat down on an empty bed beside Krystal, and Ecks helped Zivia onto the last remaining bed, coincidentally there were four beds in the medical bay, Zivia quickly fell asleep.

"I can check your injuries," Ecks said, "Slippy can you help?" Ecks said, taking a seat in the chair beside Zivia's bed, which was also beside Fox's bed.

"Sure thing, just let me get my device." Slippy said, walking out of the medical bay.

"Device?" Ecks questioned.

"It's a hand-held X-Ray that Slip keeps for when we get injured on missions." Fox answered.

"Okay then we'll have that as a double-check method to confirm if I'm right, here Fox, I'll start with you." Ecks said, closing his eyes, he scanned the light brown vulpine with his mind, this was another of his powers, he could scan anyone for anything with his mind, he could read thoughts, memories, even detect health problems, a few seconds later his eyes opened, "You have bruised ribs, you should be good to go in a few days, just don't over do it." Ecks said.

"Thanks Doc." Fox laughed as did everyone else who was conscious, but then yelped a bit from the pain in his ribs.

"I also scanned over the other two, Krystal has broken ribs, I'll do what I can to heal her, but I won't try to heal her broken bones." The blue vulpine said.

"Why not?" Fox asked.

"Because the process of healing broken bones is more painful than the process of breaking them, so I refuse to do so." Ecks explained.

"Oh, that's a pretty good reason." Fox agreed with the blue vulpine.

"And Zivia seems to have taken the most damage, she has broken ribs, and a bruised spine," Ecks said with an upset look as a tear came to his eye, "I was supposed to protect her."

"Don't worry, she'll be alright," Fox did his best to comfort the young vulpine, "There was nothing you could do to prevent it, you can say that nothing will ever happen to her, but sometimes you just can't help it." Fox said, placing his paw on the vulpine's shoulder.

"Yeah, and none of this wouldn't have happened if it weren;t for me," Cross said, walking over to his brother, "Thank you Ecks, I don't know why I believed the stuff Rage said."

"It's okay, the good thing is we got rid of him." Ecks said, "Now I'm gonna start the healing." Ecks added, standing up and floating over to Krystal.

"While you do that, I'm going to sleep." Fox said, lying down in his bed, shortly falling asleep afterwards.

"I'm gonna go back to my room," Falco said, "I was already trying to get some sleep before all this crap happened." The blue avian added as he left the medical bay.

It was a few short moments of healing when Ecks came to Zivia's bedside, Slippy had returned with the X-Ray and confirmed that Ecks was right about each injury, before Ecks started to heal Zivia, he placed his paw on her forehead and smiled, brushing the hair away from her beautiful bright yellow eyes.

"You really do love her huh?" Cross asked.

"Yeah, but when I talk to her I can't find words to express how much I do." Ecks smiled as he still rubbed the vixen's forehead.

"Eventually the words will come," Hax said, sitting up in his bed still, "When the time comes, you'll know what to say."

"Thanks Hax." The blue vulpine said as he closed his eyes and started to heal Zivia as much as possible.

* * *

1:45 PM

A week had passed since the ordeal with Rage, Krystal and Zivia were still in the medical bay, Ecks didn't even leave Zivia's side for a second, he was determined to stay until she was fully recovered. Fox had recovered a few days ago as had Hax, the first thing Hax wanted to do when he recovered was hack a few databases, unfortunately for the team Slippy didn't find anything on the chip that Hax brought back from Corneria, so they were basically back a square one, Fox came in to check on Krystal every other hour and Cross usually came in to chat with them, Krystal would be ready to leave the next day but it would still be at least a week before Zivia could as her injuries were the most severe.

"I wish I could be done with this crap already." Zivia complained as she sat up in the bed. The vixen was wearing a sky-blue tank-top, and a pair of white shorts that, yep, only went a few inches down her thigh, Ecks wasn't complaining however, even though he was a gentleman, he appreciated the vixen's beauty.

"I'm still here with you Zivia." Ecks said with a smile, floating to her bedside, Krystal was asleep and Ecks had gone through his daily healing with each of them, every day he healed them each a bit more as their broken bones recovered on their wore a pure white tee-shirt, a pair of dark blue jean shorts, and his black sneakers, Ecks' white head-hair had grown out a bit and at times he had to brush the strands away from his face.

"That's the only good part." Zivia returned the smile.

"You'll be better within a week," Ecks assured the orange vixen, he found it easier to talk to her in the past days, but still felt a strange feeling in his gut when he did so, "And there's something I want to ask you Zivia." He said, sitting down in the chair beside her bed.

"What's that?"

"Would you..." The blue vulpine's voice made an odd squeaking noise, making the vixen giggle.

"Would I what?" She asked with a smile.

Ecks took a breath, "Would you like to...you know...go on a date with me sometime?" Ecks asked nervously, his cheeks turning purple as he did so, Fox had told him about these 'dates' and Ecks decided what better way to get to know the one he loved?

"Yes Ecks, I would love to go on a date with you." Zivia agreed, Ecks didn't show it except with a smile but inside he screaming at the top of his lungs with joy, the blue fox slowly leaned towards the vixen for a kiss, when their lips met in a pure state of passion, neither of the two wanted this moment to end, Fox and Falco walked in but stopped as they noticed that Ecks and Zivia's muzzles were locked together.

"Well alright then." They both said in unison as they turned around and left the room.

Ecks pulled away and slowly crawled onto the bed with Zivia, the light orange vixen pulled Ecks' paw around her chest as they both lay there, seemingly falling into the depths of slumber at the same time.

* * *

_**Author's Note: Sorry for this chapter being a bit short. Anyway, I don't have anything really to say right now so, Until the next update, later.**_

Ignorant? Me? Ha, I don't even know what that means. ~Metallic Soul


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

_**Author's Note: Damn, I knew something was wrong with my last chapter, I probably should have made it a bit longer and better huh? Oh well, nothing can be done to help it now, I'll try to make the rest of the fights as good as I possibly can, now onto the chapter.**_

* * *

_Ecks was in a city, standing paw-in-paw with Zivia on a sidewalk, the two foxes were surrounded by large buildings, all of which were sky-scrapers, Ecks and Zivia leaned in to kiss one another, but then something unexpected happened, an explosion occurred right beside the two, sending them flying, Ecks managed to catch himself and Zivia inches away from smashing into a nearby building, Ecks and Zivia had no clue what was happening, all of a sudden their were two armies battling against each other, but then an unknown force started to pull the orange vixen away from Ecks._

_"Zivia!" Ecks yelled, trying to pull her back with his telekinesis, but it was no use, the unknown force was simply stronger._

_"Ecks!" The vixen yelled._

_Ecks could do nothing but watch as the vixen was taken away to his horror, "No..." He said, "No!" The vulpine repeated, this time yelling._

"ZIVIA!!" Ecks screamed, shooting up from the laying position he was in, his body became enshrouded in a white aura as the bed levitated in the air, waking the bright orange vixen who lay beside him.

"Ecks! What's wrong?" Zivia asked, she shot up as well into a sitting position from the loud scream, luckily Krystal wasn't in the room at the time or she probably would've killed Ecks by accident.

Ecks took a few heavy breaths, the dark blue vulpine had streams of tears running down his face, he looked to the digital clock, it read 8 AM, he turned back to the concerned vixen beside him, "Nothing, just a bad dream." Ecks told her, standing up and wiping the tears from his eyes.

"About what?" Zivia asked, concerned.

"It's nothing big." He lied.

"I know when you're lying, Ecks." The vixen said.

Ecks new that he couldn't get out of telling her about his nightmare, so he told her about it, the vixen smiled at him afterwards, "Aww, that's so sweet that you care about me that much, but I just want to let you know that nothing will ever happen to me." She assured him.

"I know," Ecks smiled and stood up, "You just get some more sleep, I need to use the restroom." Ecks told her, the vixen lay back down and shortly after she was sound asleep, Ecks smiled at the sleeping vixen, she looked just as beautiful when asleep as she did when awake, Ecks left the room and made his way to a restroom in the hall, the truth was that he didn't actually have to do anything at all except take a shower, even though he was a telepath with many powers, he couldn't just blink his eyes and suddenly be clean.

Ecks stepped out of the shower and covered himself up with a pair of underwear and black athletic mesh shorts, he turned to the mirror and thought about his dream, "Nothing will happen to her," He simply said, even though the blue vulpine wasn't born a Cerinian, he possessed great knowledge of the race, he knew that if a dream felt that real, it most likely wasn't a dream, but a vision, "Nothing." He said under his breath.

Ecks left the bathroom and floated back to the medical bay, this time he made sure to go into the with his back against the door just in case the vixen was making a surprise change to her clothes, "Hey Ecks?" The vixen asked.

"What?" The vulpine responded, still with his front facing the door he just came through.

"It's okay Ecks, I'm not naked," She assured him, Ecks turned around to face the vixen, the sides of face turned a bit purple at the sight, no she wasn't nude, but she might as well have been as the vixen was in nothing but a bra and a pair of underwear, "Normally I wouldn't ask this, but could you help me get dressed?" The beautiful vixen asked, it was amazing that she could even stand up straight, even though Ecks' healing helped the process, it was still too early for one to even think about standing up straight, Ecks thought that Zivia had amazing will power.

"Ecks?" She asked again, snapping him out of his trance from the vixen actually being able to stand.

"What was it you asked?" He asked his own question.

"Could you help me with getting dressed?" She repeated.

Ecks swallowed hard, "Sure thing." His voice made an odd squeaking sound, his voice seemed to only do this when he was around Zivia in compromising situations, Ecks floated over to Zivia who was now sitting on the bed, she pointed to a bright red tee-shirt that sat beside her and a white pair of, yes, short shorts, Ecks' face was still bright purple as he picked up the tee-shirt, he didn't use his telekinesis because his senses were out of control due to the fact that not only was he nervous from seeing the vixen like this, but also because of the enitcing scent she gave off, he slipped the tee-shirt over the vixen's head and she did the rest, putting her arms through the sleeves and pulling her head through the collar area, he then picked up the pair of shorts, Zivia lifted her legs as he kneeled down and slid the pair of shorts up her legs, when the shorts went to her thigh, she put her paw on his, making him look up at the bright orange vixen's smiling face, his face still a bright purple.

"I can take it from here." She said, noticing how nervous the blue vulpine was, Ecks quickly let go of the small pair of shorts as the vixen stood up and pulled the shorts up for a perfect fit, Ecks started to stare at the vixen as she sat down, but quickly caught himself and turned his head away.

"I'm sorry." He apologized, Zivia put her paw on his chin and gently pulled his face to look at her.

"It's no problem Ecks, I know I wouldn't be able to keep myself from looking at you, I can hardly keep myself from doing so now." She said with a wink and a seductive growl as she scaled his upper body, even though the vulpine wasn't as fit as Fox or Cross, he was still rather skinny, but not too skinny, his abdomen didn't form into a six-pack but, why should it since he was in fact a telepath with many other abilites, what did he need physical strength for?

"Let's go to the kitchen." The smiling vixen suddenly said.

"Okay." Ecks replied as the vixen stood up, he gently placed his paw on her arm to help guide her, but she moved his paw away.

"It's fine Ecks, I can walk." The vixen had incredible will power, it was one of the many things that Ecks admired so dearly about her, suddenly, as the vixen was turning around towards the door-way, she lost her balance and started falling towards the ground, Zivia closed her eyes and shielded her face, bracing herself for the impact that was sure to come, a few seconds later, she noticed that she hadn't felt any impact from hitting the ground yet, the vixen took her paws away from her face to see that she was floating horizontally in mid-air, she turned her head to look at the blue vulpine, his iris were dark blue, he was holding her up with telekinesis, he set her down gently on her feet, she couldn't believe how quick his reaction was, usually Ecks' eye color transition took a few seconds, but this time he seemed to make the transition in an instant as soon as the vixen was in trouble, the two made their way to the kitchen through the large halls of the Great Fox II, when they arrived, Fox, Krystal and Cross were having a discussion at the table.

"Well you look rather dashing today." Krystal said with a giggle as she looked over at a shirtless Ecks. Krystal wore a bright pink tank-top and a pair of sky-blue pajama pants, it would be an accurate assumption that the cerulean furred vixen had just woken up, seeing as how she had a cup of coffee in her paw.

Ecks looked down at himself, he noticed that his chest was bare, he quickly looked back at the three sitting at the table, "Should I get a shirt on?" He asked.

"Whatever you're comfortable with, just don't walk around here without any clothes on." Fox joked. The reddish-brown vulpine already dressed as he wore a green tee-shirt which bore the Star Fox logo, a black pair of cargo pants, and his usual combat boots, it was no surprise that Fox was fully awake seeing as how he always woke up much earlier than anyone else on the ship.

"I'm glad that you're okay Zivia." Cross said as he took a drink from the glass of water he held in his paw, the red vulpine really liked to drink water, as a matter of fact it was the only thing he would drink ever since he was a kit, it didn't have a taste, but Cross liked the refreshing liquid none the less. Cross wore a dark red tee-shirt that, on the chest area it read 'If it ain't metal, it ain't for me.' in black, a pair of baggy black jean shorts that went down to his shins, and as always, his white sneakers.

"Please, it would take more than a punch to take me out." The bright orange vixen said, taking a seat next to Cross, Ecks followed and sat down next to the vixen.

"So," Krystal started, "You two never did explain why your eyes change colors." Krystal added, she wanted to know more about Ecks and Cross, considering the fact that they were living on the ship, and this was the perfect time for conversation since all of the insane events that had been occuring had now sub-sided.

"Okay then," Ecks took a small breath, "You see, silver is my natural eye color, as gold is my brother's, but the powers we have also affected this, I can use my telekinesis for lifting small objects like so," Ecks said as Krystal's cup of coffee which was now placed on the table started to levitate in the air, but then was set back onto the table gently, "And I can also use my telepathy as well without putting any effort at all into it, but when I need to use more of my power, my eyes will change, matching my fur as well as the white aura that covers my body you have witnessed so many times before, however I must go through a quick form a meditation to do this, when this occurs I can telekinetically lift anything, except for extremely large objects such as this ship, I also have access to other powers such as creating a shield around my body, it isn't visible to the eye, only Cerinians can visibly see the shield I am talking about due to their psychic powers, I also can heal in this state, but there is also a transformation of some sorts which leads to even more power, the only difference in my appearance is that my eyes glow completely white, I only use this on certain occasions because I must use a lot of power to do so, in this state I have access to countless abilties such as Pyrokinesis, but possibly the most effective ability is that I can simply place my paw on someone's chest and manipulate their blood flow to make heart to explode, as well as their entire body, this state makes me seemingly unstoppable." Ecks explained, Fox and Krystal shared confused looks, while Cross simply took another drink from his glass of water.

"But when I saw you fight Rage, how did you split Cross from him?" Zivia asked, her full attention had been on Ecks for his entire expanation as she understood all of what he had said.

"Hmm..." Ecks thought for a moment, "That one I'm not sure about," The blue vulpine said, "Cross would you like to explain how your powers work?" He asked.

Cross set his glass of water back on the table, "Sure thing," He answered, "Okay, just like my brother, I can use some abilities even when my eyes stay gold, my combat skills are equivalent to those of Fox or Krystal, as you both saw when I sparred against Fox, but when my eyes turn red, I can move faster than anyone, I don't have to go through the transition my brother has to, so I can access my abilities almost instantly, my fighting skill increases by an excruciating rate, as does my strength, their is virtually no match to me in physical combat, the fastest I can run is as fast as the speed of sound, but I can't keep that up for too long, or I become exhausted, you've also seen how ruthless I am, that's because my anger also propels this, I haven't found my higher state like my brother has, so I don't know what to tell you about that." Cross explained.

"Well, I'm sorry I asked, because this is a bit confusing." Krystal said as the puzzled look still covered her face.

"What do you expect? We're science rats." Cross returned, taking another drink of the glass in front of him.

"Now it's time for me to ask a question," Fox started, "Zivia, how is it that you can fight so amazingly." He asked.

"Well, sure Hax was number one in the class when it came to fighting, but I was still a close second, they said that I was possibly the best fighter at my age, and I went into the military."

"But why did you go into the military at such a young age?" Krystal asked.

"My father was the head of a large corporation, therefore we were rich, but shortly after I turned seventeen he passed away from cancer, leaving the mansion to me, my mother had passed away before I was five, so I don't have any parents, there was a break-in at the mansion and unfortunately I was their at the time, luckily I was able to hide long enough without the robbers seeing me, I had never felt so helpless in my entire life, I never wanted to feel like that again so I decided to sell the mansion and enroll into the military where I met Hax and Alexia, so now Hax, Alexia and I share a house in which I pay the rent due to the large fortune my dad left me." Zivia told them.

Fox thought it was good to finally see that everyone was getting to know each other, "Well, I need to get to bed now." Cross before standing up and leaving the kitchen, the dark red vulpine hadn't slept in the past week because he was worried about Krystal and Zivia.

A few minutes of idle chit-chat had passed, "Zivia, would you come to the gym and spar with me?" Krystal asked.

"Sure thing." Zivia said, standing up from the table, Krystal stood up as well, it seemed like everyone was taller than Ecks and Cross, but Zivia was at least three inches taller than Krystal, it was funny since Krystal was only and inch shorter than Fox, the two vixens left the kitchen and walked down the halls of the ship.

"So, how's everything going between you two?" Fox asked.

"It's going great, I think I now know the feeling of love." Ecks answered with a smile, it seemed as though Ecks could only talk about Zivia in such a way when she wasn't around.

"Yeah, I remember when I first layed eyes on Krystal back on Sauria, it was love at first sight," Fox said, "But you just remember this, if you say you will protect her, then you should live up to your word by all means necessary."

"Thanks Fox, I'll remember that." Ecks replied, still smiling.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to see my girlfriend beat up your girlfriend." Fox joked as he stood from the table and walked to the exit of the kitchen, Ecks followed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Krystal and Zivia were getting prepared for their sparring match, Zivia was shadow boxing while Krystal did some stretches, a few seconds later and the two were standing on the mat directly across from another, "You ready?" Zivia asked with a grin.

Krystal simply returned with a grin of her own, then she suddenly leaped into the air bringing her left leg upward in an attempt at an axe-kick, this surprised Zivia, she barely jumped away from the blue foot that would have possibly knocked her out, Krystal expected the orange vixen to do this, and as soon as she landed, the cerulean Cerinian dashed at Zivia, landing a roundhouse kick to the side of Zivia's head, Zivia recovered as she was falling, placing her paw on the mat and flipping away from Krystal, the blue vixen once again dashed at Zivia, attempting to land a right cross to her face, the bright orange vixen ducked and elbowed Krystal in the stomach, knocking the air out of the Cerinian warrior, Zivia followed this with a straight kick to the chin, knocking Krystal backwards, Krystal recovered with a handstand back flip, distancing herself from Zivia, she noticed that the orange vixen was in an unusual fighting stance, Zivia was crouched with her left leg extended outward while her right leg kept her balanced, she had her arms spread out to her sides, Krystal dashed at Zivia again, shooting her fist at the crouching vixen, Zivia simply shifted her weight to one side, dodging the hit as Krystal's fist slammed onto the mat, Zivia shot her right leg straight up, connecting with Krystal's chin, once again knocking her back, then Zivia shifted back to her unique fighting stance once again, Krystal stumbled back and regained her balance, Fox and Ecks came through the door as the two vixens stared each other down.

"I guess we missed some of it." Fox said.

"It would seem so." Ecks replied.

"You boys ready for a show?" Zivia asked with a grin, not taking her eyes off of the blue vixen in front of her.

"Yeah." The two vulpines chuckled.

"Then take a seat." Krystal said as she dashed towards Zivia again, throwing another punch in her direction, Zivia grabbed Krystal's arm and flipped her, Krystal landed on her feet however and swept Zivia's feet from under her, Zivia balanced herself on her arms and neck, she shot her foot up trying to land another kick to Krystal's chin, but the blue vixen saw this coming and blocked the attack, Zivia then sprang up and jumped away from Krystal, and the two began another stare down.

"All we need is some popcorn and this would be perfect." Fox said with a laugh.

"Yeah," Was all Ecks could say, he didn't know that Zivia could fight this well, he was amazed at how furious she was yet how gracefully she moved which only strengthened his admiration towards the bright orange vixen, he didn't see her in the fight against Rage because he was unconscious, but this was truly amazing to witness, "Hey Fox?" The blue vulpine asked.

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever let me piss her off." Ecks said, making Fox burst into laughter as Krystal and Zivia went at it some more.

Krystal ran at Zivia again, she tried to sweep her legs out from under the orange vixen, but Zivia jumped into the air, placing her feet on each side of Krystal's head and in one swift motion, twisting her body and flipping the cerulean vixen onto her back, Zivia took this opportunity and quickly grabbed Krystal's left leg, placing it under her arm and shifting her toes applying enough pressure so that Krystal would tap out, but Krystal grabbed Zivia's leg as well, the two vixens had each other in the exact same hold, "Looks like we've reached a stalemate." Krystal said.

"Yeah, wanna call it a draw?" Zivia asked.

"Sure." Krystal said as the two let go of each other's leg seemingly at the same time, the two stood up, "Good match." Krystal extended her paw in respect, Zivia was only seventeed years old, and she was already an equal to a Cerinian warrior.

"Yeah it was." Zivia said, simply slapping Krystal's paw as more of a high-five, Fox and Ecks approached the two.

"I think it's safe to say that you two can handle yourselves." Fox chuckled, while Ecks simply stared at Zivia, his eyes wide.

"Ecks? What's wrong?" The orange vixen asked.

"I think I love you." Ecks said, still with his surprised look, Fox and Krystal burst into laughter as the two couples started walking towards the exit of the gym.

* * *

_Cross was surrounded by darkness, he immediately knew what was coming, "Oh Goddess not again." He simply said in an irritated tone as a familiar black vulpine came into view._

_"Hello Cross." The black vulpine said, just a glance at the red X on his forehead and you could immediately tell who it was._

_"You're not going to take me over again, Rage," Cross said, "My brother told me the truth, and you will never be back."_

_"You still have anger inside of you, I will always be here." Rage said._

_"Then I'll just have to live with that, I will get my revenge on Chaos, but I will do that on my own," Cross told him, "We should just have conversation." Cross added with a smirk, showing his left fang._

_Rage sighed, "I have a better idea, since I am trapped inside of you, never to return to the light of day, I will help you in reaching your true state of power."_

_"Wait, you'll...help me?" Cross was in disbelief._

_"I have no other option, I am your evil side, I am more powerful than you, and since it's clear I won't be reborn, I have decided that I must help you." Rage said._

_"How are you supposed to do that?" Cross asked._

_"I will become your sparring partner, I know more about Chaos then you may think, and since you cannot die in here, I have no reason to take it easy on you."_

_"But--" Cross was cut-off by an extremely hard elbow to the gut, knocking the air out of his body and sending him flying and crashing onto the invisble ground beneath him._

_"Training begins the next time you sleep, I'll be waiting." Rage said with a smirk before fading away into the darkness._

Cross woke up, it was funny, he didn't feel a single thing, he could have sworn that he was in pain just now, but then realized, "Only in my dreams." He said with a chuckle.

* * *

_**Author's Note: I'm happy, new chapter means yay for me, I loved writing this chapter, it was fun, anyway please review and I'll see you on the next upate.**_

Ignorant? Me? Ha, I don't even know what that means. ~Metallic Soul


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

10:30 AM

The four foxes were sitting in the kitchen having idle conversation about this and that, Ecks was still amazed at Zivia's fighting ability, ever since he witnessed the vixen's fight against Krystal, he hadn't said anything except to answer a question with a yes or no, it was amazing how the vixen moved with such grace, all he had done was stare at the vixen for the last hour.

"Is something wrong?" Zivia asked him.

"No." He simply answered.

"Then why do you keep staring at me?"

"You're just so..." He started to say before becoming lost in his thoughts.

"So...what?"

"So...beautiful." Ecks said, the sides of his face turning a bit purple, chuckles could be heard from Krystal and Fox sitting at the other end of the table, Zivia rolled her eyes at the two and turned back to Ecks.

"Thank you Ecks." She said with a smile, embracing him in a tight hug, his face turned an even brighter purple now, even when the two were sitting down, she was still a bit taller than him as his head was pressing against the vixen's chest as she hugged him, his eyes were wide with surprise, he always seemed to get drawn into compromising situations with Zivia, he was enticed by the vixen's scent, he couldn't help but close his eyes as he felt the warmth of the vixen against him.

"We can always leave." Fox said, making Ecks snap out of his trance.

"No, that's fine." Zivia said, releasing her hold on the blue vulpine and standing up.

"We have another empty guest room, I had ROB configure it to open to each of your paw prints." Fox told her.

"Thanks Fox." Zivia said, walking out of the kitchen, Ecks quickly followed.

"Wow, he's like her little pet." Fox said to Krystal as he stood up.

"You were like that once." Krystal returned with a grin.

"I still am." Fox chuckled, before he left the kitchen he gave the cerulean vixen a peck on the cheek.

Fox showed the couple to their room, it wasn't long before they came to a large metal door, "Go ahead, try it out." Fox said, gesturing to the panel beside the door, Zivia placed her paw on the panel and it opened, to her surprise the room was large, a bed was already perfectly made for a couple, red sheets, two pillows for each head, there was also a personal bathroom and a large window for a perfect view of the stars, Zivia and Ecks walked in.

"This doesn't look like any normal guest room." Ecks said, turning to Fox who was still outside the room.

"Oh it is, but not for just any guests." The reddish-brown vulpine smiled before the door closed, Ecks turned to look back at Zivia, who was simply walking around the room, studying each set of furniture.

Zivia had found a good amount of clothes in the dresser beside the window, Ecks floated to the bed and sat down, then he looked at Zivia, who was removing her shirt with her back turned towards Ecks, the blue vulpine was surprised, "Zivia, what are you doing?" He asked, finding himself not able to turn his head away from the vixen.

"What does it look like?" The vixen turned around to face Ecks, "I'm changing my clothes." She said as she started to remove her bra, Ecks quickly turned his head away as the sides of his face turned a bright purple, Zivia noticed this but didn't care, after all he was only being a gentleman, a few moments later, Ecks felt the bed move a bit and he looked behind him, he saw the vixen laying there, wearing a pink tank-top and a bright red pair of pajama pants, Ecks quickly stood up.

"Come on, lay down with me for a bit." She said, patting the spot where he was just sitting with her paw.

"I don't know if I'm quite comfortable with this." Ecks said, turning his gaze away from the vixen.

"For me?" She begged, Ecks looked back at the vixen to see her eyes in a puppy-dog expression, he couldn't ever say no to that face.

"Yeah, just one thing first." Ecks said, suddenly Zivia started floating in the air as the covers on the bed started to seemingly pull themselves down, she was sat gently back onto the bed and the bright red covers were placed over her somewhat exposed body, then Ecks crawled onto the bed with the vixen and wrapped his arm around her, he placed his muzzle onto her neck as the two soon drifted off into the depths of slumber.

* * *

Krystal was in her room, fiddling with the small piece of metal that the team found on Corneria, after a half-hour of examining the small object, she noticed one of the ends of the object looked like a barrel, she didn't know how, but an idea came to her, she grabbed her staff and placed the far end into the odd piece of metal, it matched perfectly and looked as if it could be used as a cannon of some sorts, she decided to head to the new training area Slippy had designed specifically for her magic abilities, when she entered the room, she punched in a few codes on the panel beside the door, a moment later, a shape of Wolf appeared from a hole in the floor, it wasn't Wolf, it was merely a dummy, Krystal set herself into her fighting stance, she pointed the staff at the Wolf dummy.

"Alright, let's see what this does." Krystal said, a moment later, the end of her staff shot out a large blast of flames which engulfed the dummy, when the flames sub-sided, nothing was left, the only thing that remained was small pile of ashes where the dummy once was.

Krystal's jaw had dropped and her eyes were wide, "I...I have to tell Fox." The cerulean warrior said before leaving the room.

* * *

_Cross was breathing heavily, he didn't know how much more of this he could take, "You must focus!" The black vulpine who stood before Cross said, "Chaos is faster, stronger, and a better fighter than you, maybe you should just let me take over again." He said with a smirk._

_"Kiss...my...ass." Cross said in-between breaths._

_Rage then lunged at the red vulpine, Cross ducked under the fist that came towards his face, and shot an uppercut up at Rage's jaw, the black vulpine moved out of the way and punched Cross in the gut, it was almost as if Cross didn't even feel the punch as he grabbed Rage's arm and pulled the black vulpine towards him, smashing Rage in the face with his forehead, Cros took his chance and swept Rage off of his feet with a sweeping kick, while Rage was turned sideways in the air, Cross shot a straight right into the black vulpine's chest, knocking him several feet back, Rage slowly stood up._

_"You're getting much bet--" Rage was cut-off but a knee to the stomach, knocking the wind out of the black vulpine, Cross then shot an uppercut into Rage's jaw, this time he connected with the attack and sent Rage high into the air, Cross leaped high, and drove his fist into the black vulpine's gut, driving him down into the invisible floor below them, Cross jumped away from the beaten black vulpine, Rage tried to stand, but began to cough up a few chunks of blood, Cross dashed at the injured Rage, a look of ferociousness covered his face._

_"Cross!" An unknown voice yelled, making the red vulpine stop instantly._

_"It seems that our fight is over, you win," Rage said weakly, coughing a bit more, "You have become more powerful than I, so therefore I will leave you alone, my fate is sealed, I will never be reborn." He ended as he faded away into the darkness._

* * *

"Cross!" Fox yelled, the red vulpine suddenly jumped out of bed, startled, "Get ready, we're leaving for Katina in a few hours, I'll explain everything on the bridge." Fox said before leaving the room.

Cross was a bit happy that he had finally bested his evil half, but something was wrong, he couldn't rid the feeling that it wouldn't be his last encounter with the black vulpine.

Zivia and Ecks were sleeping soundly, each of them were dreaming about the same thing, they were on a beach, just the two of them as Sol was setting, making the skies a luminous color, the two leaned in to lock muzzles with each other.

"Ecks! Zivia!" The two foxes were startled by the sudden shout as each of them woke up at the same time, jumping as they did so, "Get to the bridge, we'll be leaving for Katina in a few hours." Fox told them before he left.

_"That could've lasted longer." _Zivia thought to herself.

"Yeah." Ecks agreed, clearly reading her thoughts.

* * *

3:00 PM

The crew was ready to leave for Katina as they met in the docking bay, Fox had explained Krystal's discovery and also told the group that he activated the small device they recovered from the dead enemy soldier, Katina was the planet that was glowing this time on the unique map, so that's where the next part would be, "Is everyone ready?" Fox asked the group, everyone was dressed in layers of heavy clothing as they each knew about the ice cold wasteland, everyone except for Ecks and Cross, Ecks wore a dark blue tee-shirt, a pair of light blue-jeans and his black sneakers, as Cross wore a black tee-shirt, a pair of black jeans and his white sneakers.

"You two need to get more clothing on." Fox said.

"Why?" Cross asked.

"Because Katina is an ice planet, if you don't have the proper clothing you'll freeze."

"Oh is that it?" Ecks said, "That's fine, we can't freeze, I can manipulate my body temperature and the cold really has no effect on Cross."

"It's true" Cross said with a smile.

"Don't worry Fox, we'll be fine." Ecks assured him.

"Alright then, your choice." Fox shrugged as the team prepared to leave for planet Katina which was now a short flight away as they had went into hyperspace so it only took a couple of hours to reach the planet's orbit, needless to say, Cross was still tense as he crawled into Fox's Arwing, shaking.

The team made it to Katina, Cross jumped out of the Arwing quickly and onto the cold snow, luckily for them, a blizzard wasn't happening so at least this would make their search a bit easier, Ecks had decided to ride in Zivia's unique aircraft as he wanted to be close to the vixen at all times, Fox had found out that the small spherical device also was a compass of some sorts, he pushed a small button on the object, and a bright light pointed them to a direction, they followed the bright light, an hour of walking passed until the team came to a cave, the light pointed directly into the mouth of the cave.

"Well, it looks like this is it," Fox said, "Let's go."

Ecks and Cross were in front of the rest of the group, a half-hour of walking past until Fox heard something, "Wait." He said, stopping the others, Ecks and Cross didn't hear the light brown vulpine as they proceeded a bit further, but then, all of a sudden, a part of the roof of the cave fell and crashed onto the ground, seperating Ecks and Cross from the others.

"Ecks! Cross! Are you guys alright?" Fox yelled.

"Yeah we're okay." Ecks answered.

"We'll try to find a way out, you guys stay there." Fox said.

Ecks felt a familiar presence making him turn around, "Hello...Chaos." Ecks said as he glared at the cloaked black vulpine, beside him stood a bright blue vixen who also wore a cloak, Cross bared his fangs as he growled viciously at the black fox.

"Nice to see again, son." Chaos said with an evil grin.

"Don't ever call me that, you worthless piece of shit!" Cross yelled.

"You can't defeat us, we're going to kill you right here, right now." Ecks said.

Just then, without warning, Cross dashed at Chaos, his claws extended, just before he was within range of the black vulpine, a force caught him and lifted him into the air, suddenly, Cross' body shot back towards Ecks, the blue vulpine reacted quickly and caught his brother with his telekinesis, "I see that I'm not the only one with this power." Ecks said, looking at the blue vixen who stood beside Chaos.

"Either way, both of you are going to die." Cross said coldly, he set his feet to dash at the two foxes again, but suddenly he fell to his knees and grasped his chest tightly, a black aura started to escape from his muzzle ad traveled over to where the blue vixen stood, the black aura started to form into a shape, moments later, a black vulpine appeared, a vulpine who Ecks and Cross knew all too well.

"I am reborn," The vulpine said with an evil grin, "I am Rage."

* * *

_**Author's Note: OH YEAH SHIT JUST GOT REAL!!! Anyway this chapter was a bit short, and I know that the last few chapters have been a bit slow, but the next will be full of action, I don't have much to say so I want to thank everyone who has read my story and reviewed and I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it.**_

Ignorant? Me? I don't even know what that means. ~Metallic Soul


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

_**Song of the day once again if one was needed: Re-align - Godsmack because it's a kick-ass song.**_

* * *

"I know what you're here for." Chaos said, holding up a small metallic cube, Chaos put the metal piece into a small bag which hung from his side beside his sheathed sword.

"Now I can finally kill you for what you've done." Cross said, still baring his fangs.

"Then here's your chance, catch me if you can." The tall vulpine said, dashing off further into the cave with incredible speed, Cross looked to the dark blue vulpine beside him.

"Be careful my brother." Ecks said, his gaze steady on Rage and the bright blue furred vixen in front of him.

"You know me." Cross chuckled as the iris in his eyes suddenly changed to a dark red, not even a second later, Cross sped off in the same direction as Chaos.

"Now then, let's get to it." Ecks said, but without warning, he suddenly felt pressure on his neck as he was lifted into the air by Rage.

"You caught me by surprise the last time, but this time you die." Rage said with an evil grin as he held the blue vulpine by the throat, squeezing the life from him.

Ecks closed his eyes, "If you're going to kill someone," He said weakly, "Then do it!" His eyes shot open, the iris in both eyes had become a dark blue color as Rage's body shot back as if he were hit by a cannon, making his grip on Ecks' throat release, Ecks then set his sights on the bright blue furred vixen, her sky-blue eyes seemed somewhat familiar to him, but a split-second later, the vixen vanished and appeared right in front of him, Ecks felt a sudden pain in his gut that winded him, when he looked down, he saw that the cloaked vixen had slammed her knee square into his stomach, then Rage attacked, punching Ecks in the chest, sending him flying towards a jagged wall of the cave, Ecks steadied his body and came to a halt inches away from what would have certainly killed him, Rage was relentless in his attacks as Ecksreacted quick enough to teleport out of the way before the black vulpine smashed his fist into the wall, Ecks was about use a telekinetic throw, but found himself slamming against the top of the cave with a heavy thud, Ecks was still conscious however as he saw that the blue vixen was concentrating, this would be more difficult than he thought, the vixen not only possessed physical fighting ability, but also telekinesis, Ecks saw the ground coming up at him as he realized that he was about to slam into it, he stopped himself from hitting the ground, apparently his powers were greater than those of the cloaked vixen, but didn't help him when she jumped into the air and landed both of her knees on his back, slamming him face-first into the ground, Ecks stood up slowly as Rage rushed at him, the dark blue vulpine could still react in time to teleport out of the way of an oncoming kick, but unfortunately he couldn't react quick enough as he realized that the cloaked vixen had also teleported right behind him, he felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head as the vixen's boot collided with it, making his body fall limply to the ground.

"Okay, that's it." The dark blue vulpine weakly said, slowly getting to his feet.

Rage rushed at Ecks again, but as the black vulpine was just inches away from digging his claws into Ecks' face, a powerful force slammed into his chest, sending him flying several feet backwards into another wall, Ecks could tell that the cloaked vixen was behind him as he also teleported, the dark blue vulpine could only go on the defense as the two enemy foxes were ruthless, he would need to get both of them in his telekinetic hold to do any damage, every time one of them came within inches of striking Ecks, he would teleport to another area in the cave, a few minutes of dodging and the dark blue vulpine found his chance as the two enemies were both attacking from his front, each of them leaped into the air, unfortunately for the two, Ecks had caught both as they were held in mid-air, both bodies slammed against the roof of the cave and then the ground, then as they were held in mid-air once again, Ecks held his paws straight in front of him, it could be seen that a sphere was being formed in front of the dark blue vulpine, the sphere was being made from the air as it had no color, but was clear, a moment later, the sphere separated into two spheres and shot at Rage and the cloaked vixen, the balls of air collided with the two helpless bodies and sent each crashing into a wall.

"Thank Goddess that's over." Ecks said as his breaths were heavy, but as the dust cleared from the crash, he could see that Rage and the vixen were still conscious, Ecks felt pressure against his chest as he was slammed against the wall behind him.

"You would like to think it was that easy, wouldn't you?" Rage rhetorically asked as he dug his claws into the chest of the dark blue vulpine, resulting in an agonizing scream to escape from Ecks' muzzle, "After I kill you, that little vixen of your's will be all mine." Rage said with an evil smile.

"No." Ecks said, grabbing Rage's paw, Ecks' eyes began to completely washed over with a pure white, and the aura around his body began to glow even brighter, "NO!!" Ecks screamed, Rage jumped away quickly as he knew this power well, "YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER!!" Ecks screamed again, his face became full of fury, and his right paw started to glow even brighter than the rest of his body, a sphere of white started to form in his paw as he held it in front of him, pointing directly at Rage, a moment later the white sphere shot from his paw, Rage barely jumped out of the way of the oncoming ball of death, but it was a diversion as Ecks appeared right behind Rage, Ecks placed his paw on the black vulpine's back, the impact could be heard around the cave as Rage's body slammed against a wall, the cloaked vixen ran at Ecks, but as soon as she got close enough, Ecks back-flipped as his foot collided with the vixen's chin, knocking her backwards, Ecks had such elegance in his flip, as his body didn't move an inch from the position it was before, Ecks then flew at the downed vixen, ready to deliver a killing blow.

"You wouldn't kill you own mother, would you?" The vixen asked with a pleading face, Ecks stopped inches from striking her, his eyes quickly changed back to their normal silver gleam as a surprised look came across his face.

"M-mother?" He questioned.

Just then, he started to float even higher in the air, it was like his body was being bound by something, he couldn't move at all, "Foolish mistake," Rage said, "I'm going to enjoy killing you slowly." Rage leaped into the air, scratching the face of the dark blue vulpine, this process kept repeating as Rage would leap and dig his claws into any part of Ecks' body he could, blood flowed from every gash on his body that was created by the evil black vulpine,, there was only one thing he could do as he concentrated his thoughts.

* * *

Cross pursued his father with every intent to kill, a few moments of running at immense speed passed until the dark red vulpine came to a dead-end, "I know you're here you bastard!" Cross yelled, a moment later, the black fox rose from the shadows.

"Nothing will stop me from destroying Lylat," Chaos said, drawing his sword from it's sheath and holding it in his right paw, "Not even my own creation." He said coldly.

Cross said nothing, he simply took his battle stance with his arms at his sides, nothing except for complete anger filled his eyes, Chaos dashed at Cross, slicing downward at the young vulpine, Cross moved out of the way as the sword left a large crack in the ground, slicing through the rock as if it were butter, Cross then threw his left leg out in a roundhouse kick attempt, Chaos ducked this attack and sliced at Cross with the sword again, the tip of the sword nicked Cross' left arm as he barely dodged the deadly attack, a few drops of blood came from his arm, Cross threw a straight punch into the black vulpine's chest, and connected with great force, sending Chaos back into the wall behind him, his body didn't even get a chance to bounce from the wall as Cross' elbow made contact with the black vulpine's gut almost as soon as he hit, Chaos still retaliated however, and shot leg forward, connecting with Cross' chest, knocking him back several feet, Cross looked up just in time to see the black vulpine leap into the air pointing his sword directly at the dark red vulpine's face, Cross managed to barely move out of the way of what would have been his death, but he didn't react in time to dodge the fist that collided with his chin, sending him crashing into a wall with destructive impact, Cross couldn't react to the knee that impacted his stomach, completely winding the young vulpine as drops of blood escaped his muzzle, Chaos grabbed Cross by the collar of his shirt and slammed him face-first into the ground, the black vulpine then locked his arm around Cross' neck and held the barely conscious vulpine up with his left arm.

"You will die here and now, you cannot stop the inevitable," Chaos harshly said, "You are no hero, you are and always will only be a killer."

"FUCK YOU!!" Cross screamed as he shot his head backwards, crashing into the black vulpine's nose, this caused Chaos to release his lock on Cross' neck, Cross then grabbed Chaos' arm and hurled him into one of the walls on the cave, as Chaos recovered, he saw that Cross was undergoing a transformation of some sorts, Cross was holding the sides of his head in pain, he dropped to his knees and looked up at the roof of the cave, his eyes started to completely flush over with red, Chaos took his chance and leaped at Cross, holding his sword high above his head, he thrust his blade down toward the young vulpine, but just before the blade would have certainly pierced his skull, Cross caught the blade with his right paw, and then snapped the blade in two seemingly without effort, this struck both fear and shock into the eyes of Chaos as he backed away slowly.

"I may just be a killer, but it was YOU who made me a killer, and now you will pay." Cross said, Chaos lunged at Cross again, despite his shock, he threw a punch at the young vulpine, Chaos didn't strike anything even though Cross hadn't moved from his position, then Chaos felt the air escape from his body as he looked down to see a dark red arm extending from his stomach, leading to the vulpine in front of him, then in an instant, Chaos' body was sent flying into the roof of the cave, courtosy of an uppercut from Cross, as Chaos' body fell limply towards the ground, Cross shot his right leg straight up, cracking the black fox square in the back of the head, as Chaos front-flipped in mid-air, Cross smashed his left knee into the vulpine's face all in one swift motion.

"Now you can do the dying." Cross said, Chaos couldn't fight anymore as Cross stood over the defeated vulpine, raising his paw into the air, ready to strike the final, deadly blow, but he felt something in his mind, his eyes quickly reverted back to their original golden shine, Ecks was in trouble, Cross didn't know what to do, here he was, with possibly his only chance to finally exact his revenge, and yet his brother was also on the verge of death.

"Go on, kill me, or have you suddenly become soft?" A weak Chaos said, Cross lowered his paw and turned around.

"You'll die on a different day." The dark red vulpine growled before snatching the small bag from Chaos' side and speeding off to help his brother.

* * *

Ecks had cuts and gashes all over his body as he was held in the air by the telekinetic force of the cloaked vixen while Rage had been leaping into the air, slashing Ecks each time, Rage leaped into the air one last time, set to deliver the final deadly slash to the blue vulpine, but just as Rage was close enough to end Ecks' life, a red flash appeared and slammed into the black vulpine's face, Ecks smiled, he could finally concentrate, the blue vulpine closed his eyes, then they re-opened a dark blue color, Ecks freed himself from the telekinetic force that bound his body, suddenly the cloaked vixen was sent flying into a wall and bounced off with a sickening impact, Ecks floated towards her as she lay on the ground.

"Even our own mother is against us." Ecks said as a white aura started to gather in his paw, suddenly he felt a pain in the back of his head as his body fell to the ground, Rage picked up the injured vixen and dashed deeper into the cave, Cross helped his brother stand.

"We need to go after them!" Cross yelled, Ecks fell to his knees in pain.

"I can't fight anymore in this condition." Ecks said as his breaths were heavy.

"Then I'll fight them myself!" Cross yelled again as he set himself to follow Rage.

"No, you will die if you fight them alone."

"I don't care, they must pay!" Cross argued

"No, brother!" Ecks yelled despite his pain, "We need to find a way out of here." But just as these words were spoken, a large black figure busted through a wall, black cloak's hood fell down and a grey wolf's face was revealed, the lupine had a black scar running down the entire right side of his face, the wolf also had a patch over his right eye as well.

"This is too good, like takin' candy from a baby." The wolf said as he noticed that Ecks was in extreme pain and Cross was tired as well, Cross took his battle stance, he didn't have much left in him because of the fight with Chaos, but he wasn't about to give up, the large lupine rushed at Cross, the wolf was fast, but nothing Cross couldn't handle, a large fist shot downward at the red vulpine, Cross quickly evaded the punch with ease, then he jumped into the air, spinning as he did so, he landed a heavy kick to the lupine's jaw, normally, a kick from Cross with that much power would have either killed them, or sent them flying, but the lupine only stumbled back a few steps, Cross was shocked, but he still leaped into the air ready to land another kick to the lupine's head, but just as Cross' leg was coming down, the lupine grabbed Cross' leg and slammed him against the ground head-first, Cross fell unconscious from the immense impact.

"You little shit! That fuckin' hurt!" The cloaked lupine yelled, rubbing his chin, he turned to the barely standing Ecks, the blue vulpine couldn't fight at all, blood had leaked into his right eye as he closed it tightly, the large lupine was twice Ecks' own size, the lupine rushed at Ecks, the blue vulpine wasn't prepared as the lupine grabbed Ecks by the throat and slammed him against a wall, Ecks had passed out from the loss of blood mixed with the excruciating pain from being slammed with such force.

"Now just one thing left to do," The lupine said as he walked over to an unconscious Cross, still holding Ecks by the neck, he picked Cross from the ground by the neck as well, and held both vulpine in front of him, "Goodbye kids." He said, just then, an explosion erupted where the cave-in had occured, startling the large grey wolf, Fox, Krystal and Zivia stepped into the cave as the dust cleared, Hax and Alexia followed a moment later, Fox recognized the large grey lupine from Coluxine.

"You!" Fox yelled, Zivia noticed Ecks was held in the paw of the lupine.

"Put him down!" The orange vixen yelled.

"Fine." The wolf said with a grin as he slammed Ecks' body onto the ground hard.

"SON OF A BITCH!!" Zivia screamed as she ran at the wolf, the lupine had dropped Cross as he watched the vixen rush him.

"Zivia, wait!" Fox yelled, but the vixen didn't listen, as Zivia drew within striking range, the lupine shot his fist at her, the vixen moved out of the way, jumped into the air, and landed a round-house kick onto the side of the lupine's head, she jumped back quickly but the wolf grabbed her leg and flung the vixen back towards Fox and the others, suddenly, Zivia stopped in mid-flight before impacting against the four animals, she saw that Ecks had temporarily regained consciousness and stopped the vixen from getting hurt.

"I made a promise." Ecks said before passing out yet again, Zivia landed on her feet as the group faced off with this huge lupine, Fox noticed something though.

"Single attacks don't hurt him much," He told the group, "We need to attack in bunches, don't stop!" Fox said as he charged the cloaked lupine, the rest of the group quickly followed, when Fox was close, the lupine swung his arm at the vulpine, but Fox ducked under the massive arm and kicked the lupine in the chin, back-flipping as he did so, Fox then leaped into the air and did three full spins, the heel of his boot collided with the massive lupine's head, Fox landed and kneeled to the ground, Alexia ran up the vulpine's back and used his shoulders as a springboard, she extended both of her legs outward as she came down onto the lupine, both of her feet slamming into his chest, the lupine stumbled back a bit, Hax was next to run at the lupine, slamming his knee into the wolf's stomach, causing the lupine to let out a gasp, and then smashing his elbow square into the wolf's nose, the cloaked enemy had no chance at all to fight back as Zivia leaped into the air, coming down with a heavy axe-kick onto the lupine's head, he became dazed, but as Krystal ran at the lupine, he suddenly shot his paw out, and hit the vixen dead-on in her chest, sending her flying into Fox, the two slammed against a wall with a heavy impact, Hax went for an upper-cut, but the cloaked lupine grabbed his arm, lifted him into the air, and slammed him onto the ground hard back-first, resulting in a loud scream of pain to erupt from Hax's muzzle, Alexia charged at the large lupine, but he caught her off-guard by grabbing her by her throat and throwing the she-wolf into a wall, her body hit with a sickening thud, Zivia was the only one left standing, but she wasn't going down without a fight.

"This hardly seems fair." The large wolf said, spitting out a clot of blood.

"Yeah I know, maybe I should tie my arms behind my back." Zivia returned with a cocky grin, the lupine charged at Zivia, as he shot his fist at her, she side-stepped it and smashed her palm into the lupine's nose, blood gushed from the lupine's nose as he grabbed it in pain, Zivia squatted down into her unique fighting stance, her left leg was extended while her right leg was underneath her body, supporting her weight, her arms were spread out behind her back, the lupine charged at her once again, Zivia quickly kicked her right leg up and connected with the wolf's chin, but as she made contact, the lupine grabbed her leg, and hurled the vixen towards a jagged-edged wall, Zivia almost made impact with the wall of death but Cross had regained his consciousness and tackled her, making certain that both of them were safe, Cross struggled to stand, but couldn't, he was too worn out to fight anymore, the large lupine walked toward Zivia and the injured Cross, he raised his fist into the air, Zivia closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable, but she felt nothing, the vixen opened her eyes to see that the lupine was struggling to break free of some unknown force, she looked at Ecks, the blue vulpine had come to, and had the large lupine's arm placed in a bind.

"Now Krystal!" Ecks shouted, the cerulean furred vixen ran up to the cloaked wolf, her staff drawn, the barrel that was placed onto it before was now no longer there, Krystal jabbed her staff into the lupine's stomach, seconds later, a ball of fire escaped from the lupine's back, the wolf's body fell limply to the ground, Cross lay on the ground, not daring to even try to get up, the rest of the group had recovered but were still feeling the effects of the fight, Ecks tried searching for the thought patterns of Chaos, Rage, and the cloaked vixen, but he couldn't find anything.

"Dammit, we were so close this time." Ecks said as Zivia came to his aid.

"Are you okay?" Zivia said, pulling Ecks' limp upper body towards her and firmly embracing him.

"I'll be fine, just a few scrapes and bruises," Ecks' eyes started to become heavy, "I need to sleep." He said before passing out once again.

"Well, this whole trip was wasted, I hate knowing that we came up empty-handed on this one." Fox said.

Cross popped his trademark smirk, "Not completely." He weakly said, pulling a small bag from his pocket.

* * *

**_Author's Note: I hope the action was good in this one, I really wanted to try and make this as good as possible, the next few chapters will probably be a bit slow, considering the hell that they just went through. Oh, and I feel like I should explain this, the reason I put a little "Song of the Day" is because when I read over an actiony chapter, not just my chapters, but any actiony chapter when I'm reading a story, I will end up playing a few songs while I read, it's basically stating what I feel is the best song for the chapter that I listened to, if that makes any sense. But yeah, thanks for reading and the support, please review and I'll see you next time._**

Ignorant? Me? Ha, I don't even know what that means. ~Metallic Soul


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"I swear I'll break that little bitch's neck the next time I see her." A large lupine said as he walked out of a room into a dimly-lit hallway, the walls were blood red and bore an octagon which merged with a six-sided star.

"A bit eager are we?" A cold voice asked, the large lupine turned around to face a black vulpine who wore a cloak.

"She fuckin' broke my nose!" The wolf yelled.

"In due time Thrash, you will have your chance." Chaos said with an evil smile.

A bright blue, cloaked vixen approached the two figures, "Why does it not surprise me that we failed yet again?" She asked.

"It was another minor setback Viera, I will not fail, our plan will take effect soon." Chaos said.

"And how can you be so sure?" Viera asked.

"I have a little surprise for them," Chaos said, he held up what looked to be a holographic image of a bright orange furred vixen, "I believe her name is Zivia." Chaos added with an evil grin.

* * *

Ecks awoke in a room he was all too familiar with as he squinted his eyes at the bright lights, his body felt numb to an extent, he couldn't even feel his arms when he tried to move them, he rolled to his side on the bed he lay in, the blue vulpine looked at the digital clock which read 10:00 PM, he noticed that on the bed to his right, his brother was sleeping soundly,Ecks smiled at this, Cross looked rather peaceful despite the fact that his mouth was hanging wide open, Ecks also noticed Zivia was sitting in a chair at his bedside, her head was leaned on her left paw which was supported by her knee, the bright orange vixen was beautiful when she slept, not even a single breath could be heard from the vixen, Ecks tried to reach his paw to her, but he was too weak, he tried to speak her name, but it only came out as a slight whisper, Ecks was a bit upset, but then remembered that he was a telepath, it took a lot for him to concentrate his thoughts to wake the bright orange vixen, he felt helpless, normally it wouldn't take any amount effort at all for him to use his telepathy, Zivia awoke and smiled at the dark blue vulpine.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Like a ship just smashed into my skull." Ecks answered weakly.

"Try not to talk too much, we escaped Katina, most of us just have a few bumps and bruises, Cross has broken ribs, he was still conscious when we left Katina, he told us that he'll heal much faster than we would.

"How long have I been here?" Ecks asked.

"You and Cross have been in here for about a week now, Cross is almost fully recovered, but you took the most damage," Zivia said, reaching her paw over to Ecks' and holding it gently, "You have broken ribs, a concussion, and many deep cuts, this whole week you've been sleeping here, a few times you even called out my name in your sleep." Zivia giggled, she was happy now that the vulpine was awake.

Ecks' face turned a deep purple as he blushed, Fox came into the room a few moments later.

"So, how is he?" Fox asked, he didn't really need an answer as he noticed the blue vulpine was awake.

"He's better, still needs to rest a lot more." Zivia answered, turning her gaze to the light-brown vulpine, Fox walked over to Ecks.

"You did a good job, if you wouldn't have been there we probably wouldn't have made it out alive." Fox said.

Ecks couldn't talk much so he simply smiled and nodded his head, Fox left the room and Zivia had also left but told Ecks she would be right back with something for him to eat, for some reason Ecks couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, Zivia told him that he was just being paranoid because of the recent events, but his telepathy had never failed him before.

"INTRUSION ALERT!" ROB's monotone voice came over the speaker, Cross instantly woke up and jumped out of the bed, the dark red vulpine dashed out of the medical bay, leaving Ecks all alone, the blue vulpine slowly stood from the bed, he had no clue what was going on, but he wasn't just going to lay there, Ecks couldn't even use his ability to hover from the ground, when he finally left the room, he found Zivia standing outside the medical bay.

"Zivia what's going on?" Ecks asked.

"We're under attack! You need to get back in the medical bay!" Zivia shouted over the alarm, just then, down the hall, Cross' body slammed against a wall with incredible force, his body bounced limply from the wall onto the floor, a moment later, Zivia was being pulled away by an unknown force.

"Zivia!" Ecks shouted, trying to pull the vixen back to him with his telekinesis, but he was too weak, it was happening just like the dream he had, just a different area, just then, the butt of a rifle hit Ecks square on the nose, Ecks still tried to crawl as he saw Zivia being helplessly taken away, until the purple-clad soldier kicked Ecks in the stomach, Ecks had enough of this as he simply looked at the soldier, Ecks gathered all of the power he could muster, the soldier was lifted from the ground and his head twisted completely around, resulting in a loud snap, the soldier's body fell limply to the floor.

"ZIVIA!!" The blue vulpine screamed, the last thing he saw was the bright orange vixen's helpless face before falling unconscious.

* * *

Ecks awoke back in the medical bay, Fox, Krystal, and Cross were all looking over him, "Where's Zivia?" The blue vulpine asked as his eyes opened.

"She was taken onto the Doombringers' ship, we just barely defended against the attack, they had anti-radar, we couldn't even see it coming." Fox said.

"That bastard," Ecks was angry with himself that he wasn't able to keep his promise, he felt pathetic knowing that there was nothing he could've done to prevent this, "We need to get her back." The blue vulpine said, starting to stand from the bed.

"Let's go to the bridge and figure out what we'll do from there." Fox said, turning to leave the medical bay, Cross helped Ecks walk and the group made it to the bridge in minutes, Hax, Alexia, Slippy and Falco were all on the bridge, it hurt Ecks to see that Zivia was not in her usual spot on the couch, he would do anything to get her back.

"I'm still wondering how they managed to find us." Hax said as he brushed a few strands of his white hair away from his right eye, only to have it return to the same spot, the dark lupine was dressed in a black tee-shirt and blue-jeans as he paced around the room.

"My guess is that they put a tracking device on one of the Arwings." Alexia stated, the light grey she-wolf was wearing a simple white tee-shirt and a pair of black jeans that faded to white towards the ankle area, Falco and Slippy were in their usual gear.

"We have a call." Slippy informed.

"Patch it through." Fox said, a holographic image of a black fox's face appeared.

"You!" Ecks shouted, still having his weight supported by Cross, "Give Zivia back! Or--"

"Or what? You'll kill me?" The black vulpine snickered, "You were already planning to do that in the first place, so what difference would it make?" Chaos asked rhetorically, "I have a proposition for you." He added.

"And what's that?" Ecks asked, baring his fangs at the image.

"I must say that you have great taste in women my son, this vixen of your's is a beautiful one indeed, Lylat isn't as repulsive as I thought." This statement only furthered Ecks' hatred for Chaos, "Now, onto the proposition, you and Cross will come to Coluxine, trade me the staff, the cube, and the barrel for this one's life, I will come alone, it would be an intelligent move not to bring anyone else with you, be there by tomorrow, I'll be waiting." Chaos ended with an evil grin as the image faded away.

A silence filled the room, "So," Ecks spoke up, "What are we going to do?" He asked Fox.

"That's not up to me, it's her life on the line, and she trusts you with it, you make the decision." Fox said, Ecks thought for a moment.

"Cross and I will go alone, we'll trade the weapon, just as long as I get Zivia back, then we'll figure out a way to defeat him," Ecks said, the blue vulpine turned to Krystal, "I will need you to heal me completely." Ecks turned to leave the bridge.

"You know how painful this will be, don't you?" Krystal asked, Ecks turned his head and looked at the cerulean vixen.

"Pain is nothing anymore," The dark blue vulpine said, then continued to limp towards the exit of the bridge, "Nothing will keep me from her." He ended as he left the bridge, the group was amazed at the feelings Ecks had for Zivia, even with the universe at stake, Ecks was still prepared to make any sacrifice

Ecks was lying on the bed when Krystal walked into the medical bay, "I hope you know what you're doing." The blue vixen said.

"So do I." Ecks replied, when Krystal was close enough he gently grabbed her right paw.

"What are you doing?" Krystal asked.

"I am going to give you a boost of my power so that you can heal me even faster." Ecks said, closing his eyes, a moment later, Krystal felt a jolt of energy rush into her body as her eyes flushed completely over with a pure white glow, the cerulean furred vixen looked to the ceiling as her mouth opened slightly, a white glow started to escape from her open mouth as the energy surged through-out her body, Ecks let go of the vixen's paw as both of her paws started to glow a pure white aura, the vixen looked back down at Ecks.

"You are sure?" She asked.

"Yes." Was all Ecks said, Krystal then put both of her paws in front of her, each hovered above Ecks' stomach, at first Ecks felt a warm sensation all about his body, but that soon turned to excruciating pain as Ecks began to scream in pain as Krystal concentrated on healing the injured vulpine, his screams could be heard around the ship, Ecks wanted to pass out from the pain, but he refused to do so, he needed to stay conscious, passing out during this healing wouldn't make any difference in the healing process but, he promised to himself that he would stay conscious until Zivia was safe with him back on the ship, an hour passed until Krystal was finished with the healing, she had to catch her breath because of how much magic it took to completely heal the young vulpine, Ecks hadn't passed out, he stood up from the bed, all of his pain was gone, the two foxes left the medical bay and made their way to the bridge, Ecks, having regained his strength, floated down the halls of the Great Fox II, Krystal walked slowly as she was still exhausted from the amount of magic she used, the two entered the bridge where they found Cross, Fox, Hax and Alexia each sitting in a spot in the room.

"Did you have fun?" Cross asked sarcastically with his usual smirk, showing his left fang as he sat on the red couch, his fur matched the color of the couch almost perfectly

"We need to go to Coluxine now." Ecks told them, clearly ignoring his brother's comment.

"ROB, clear us for hyperspace." Fox said.

"Clearance acquired, entering hyperspace in three minutes, forty-seven seconds, ETA to destination twelve hours, thirty-six minutes." ROB said in his monotone voice.

"Everyone find something to occupy your time, this'll be a while." Fox said.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys," Cross said, standing from the couch he sitting in, the dark red vulpine reached his arms over his head as his shoulders made a cracking noise, "But I'm gonna head to the gym." He added as he left the bridge.

"I'm gonna go to sleep." Slippy said, turning to leave the bridge as well.

"Sounds good." Falco added as the avian turned to follow Slippy out of the bridge.

"I need to meditate." Ecks told the rest of the group as he floated out of the bridge and down the hall, leaving Alexia, Hax, Krystal, and Fox, it was clear that he only had one thing on his mind: getting Zivia back.

"So?" Krystal started, looking at Hax and Alexia as the two sat on the couch, with a curious expression on her face, Fox already knew what was coming as he rolled his eyes.

"So, what?" Alexia asked.

"How long have you two been together?" Krystal always needed to know everything about everyone, although she could simply read their minds, she found it better to converse.

"Well, we started dating three years ago, we met in combat training, at first we were just friends but then some drunken asshole recruit grabbed my arm and tried pulling me away, so Vaughn kicked the shit out of him." The she-wolf ended with a shrug of her shoulders.

"To be honest, I had a bit of a crush on her when we first met, I was always shy around girls." Hax said, looking at the female lupine next to him.

"Sounds like someone I know," Krystal said with a giggle, turning her head towards Fox, who was now sitting in the captain's chair.

"Oh yeah? Who?" Fox asked with a grin, Krystal simply rolled her eyes.

"So exactly how old are you two?" Krystal asked, still filled with curiosity.

"Twenty." Hax answered.

"Twenty-one." Alexia did the same, Fox decided to stand up and stood beside Krystal with his arm around her shoulder, then all of a sudden, Krystal felt something on her lower back which made her jolt forward a bit.

"Stop it Fox." The blue vixen said with a giggle, playfully slugging Fox's arm in the process.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Fox played dumb, Krystal rolled her eyes.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired." Hax said as he stood up and left the bridge, Alexia followed the lupine, Fox and Krystal also went to bed shortly after as the next day would be a long one.

* * *

1:30 PM

Everyone on the ship was fully awake, Ecks hadn't even left his room as he was still in meditation, the blue vulpine's ears twitched as he heard a knock on the door, "Who is it?" He asked.

"It's Cross," Came an answer from the other side, Ecks floated over to the door and opened it, his red furred brother was standing there with a serious look on his face, "You don't think that when we give him the staff he's just gonna turn around and leave right?" Cross asked.

"No, he will try to fight us with it, and we'll be ready." Ecks told him.

"We should go now, I want to teach that bastard a lesson." Cross said, turning around and walking away, Ecks left shortly after and went to the docking bay, where he found everyone standing there, he saw Zivia's unique aircraft and it only fueled his desire to get her back.

"Are you two ready?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, I can teleport us there." Ecks informed.

Krystal handed Ecks her staff, the small metallic cube, and the cylider object which was more like a large barrel for a pistol, "Be careful." Krystal told them, a look of concern on her face.

"Don't worry, we'll be back..." Ecks closed his eyes, "...with Zivia." His eyes then opened, they had turned a dark blue color and a white aura surrounded his body, he placed his paw on Cross' shoulder, and the two seemingly vanished into thin air.

Ecks and Cross appeared on the dry, cracked, barren wasteland surface of Coluxine, Ecks had followed Zivia's thought patterns to find them, standing twenty feet away from Cross and Ecks was Chaos, holding tightly onto Zivia's arm, Ecks noticed that the bright orange vixen had bruises on her arms and legs, her clothes were torn, her left pant leg had been completely ripped off, this infuriated Ecks.

"What did you do to her?!" Ecks growled, his eyes had a hateful glare in them.

"I did nothing, my good friend Thrash simply had some fun with your little vixen," Chaos said with a snicker, "Now give me the weapon."

"Let Zivia go! Then you can have the weapon!" Ecks shouted.

"Fine," Choas released his hold on the vixen's arm, "You are free to go." The black vulpine told her, Zivia shot him a glare and a growl before running towards Ecks and Cross, the staff that Ecks was holding started to float towards Chaos, as did the barrel and the cube.

"Are you okay? Did they do anything to you?" Ecks asked the vixen when she was close.

"No, I'm fine, they just roughed me up a bit, nothing I can't handle." Zivia said with a smile as Ecks embraced the vixen tightly.

Chaos snatched the staff, the cube and the barrel from the air, "Now for the ultimate weapon." He said as he locked the barrel onto the end of the staff and touched the cube to the other side, the small metallic cube started to form into a pistol grip, and it formed around the staff as well, the weapon that Chaos held now looked like an extremely long pistol, the weapon was at least six feet long now, Chaos pointed the barrel at Ecks and Cross, and a huge ball of fire shot at them, luckily Ecks realized this and teleported out of the way while Cross dodged the ball of flames as well.

"Wonderful, this is much better than I thought." Chaos snickered.

"Zivia, you need to stay away from this." Ecks told the vixen, then looked over to Cross, who was on his knees, breathing heavily, his eyes were starting to flush over with a blood red color, Ecks hadn't seen his new ability, Cross stood up and let out a bone chilling roar and took off towards Chaos.

"Be safe." Ecks told the vixen as he stood.

"Always am." Zivia said, Ecks then started to hover above the ground, his body became enshrouded in a pure white aura, it was even brighter than normal, his eyes completely washed over with white as he looked at Chaos.

"Let's begin." Chaos said, Ecks vanished and appeared right in front of the black vulpine, Choas predicted this however and slammed his fist into Ecks' stomach sending the blue vulpine flying several feet back, Cross leaped into the air, planning to land a killing blow to Chaos, but suddenly, a barrier appeared around Chaos, and as soon as Cross hit, the force sent him flying backwards, the red vulpine flipped gracefully and landed on his feet, he then dug his right arm into the ground, and with loud growl, he pulled up, ripping a massive chunk from the ground, he reared back his arm and threw the huge piece of land at Chaos, but Chaos pointed his new weapon at the chunk of land, a large white beam escaped from the barrel and vaporized the boulder, but this was a diversion as Cross appeared from the dust and slammed his knee into the black vulpine's stomach, driving the air out of him, Cross then slammed his fist into Chaos' jaw, sending him directly upward, as Chaos' limp body flew in the air, Ecks appeared seemingly out of no where as a white sphere of energy shot from his paw, the ball hit Chaos dead on in the chest, as he fell towards the ground, Cross leaped into the air, and drove his leg down into Chaos' stomach in an axe-kick, the two landed on the ground hard, leaving a large crater where Chaos' body lay, Cross thought it was over, but then the ground erupted from beneath him as he was sent flying backwards by a quake attack from Chaos, the black vulpine raised the staff high into the air, pointing the barrel directly upwards and shot a large white beam at Ecks, Ecks barely managed to teleport out of the way, but then Chaos shot another beam at Zivia.

"NO!!" Ecks screamed, he teleported in front of the beam and suddenly the beam stopped, Ecks was using all of his power to keep the white beam from disinigrating both him and Zivia.

"This is when you die!" A maniacal laugh escaped from Chaos' muzzle as more pressure was added to Ecks' strain as the beam increased, Ecks couldn't keep this up, just then, Cross dashed at Chaos, Chaos didn't even see the vulpine coming as Cross grabbed the weapon, and ripped the staff part away from it, disabling the large white beam of death, then he shot his leg out, and kicked Chaos square in the chest, sending him several feet back, the staff part of the weapon that Cross had ripped off was now back to it's original form, Cross took off towards Zivia and Ecks, Ecks quickly placed his paws on Cross and Zivia's shoulders as another beam shot toward them, the weapon that Chaos had now looked to be a small cannon, Ecks, Zivia, and Cross seemingly vanished into thin air as the beam just barely missed them, the trio would live to fight another day.

* * *

Back on the Great Fox II, Fox had found the tracking device that had led the Doombringers to their ship, it had been placed on his Arwing, he destroyed the chip but just then, Cross, Ecks and Zivia appeared right before him, Cross fell to his knees, breathing heavily, this new power that he had acquired took a lot out of him, Ecks was worn out as well, but his transformation didn't have as much affect on him as it did on Cross.

"You guys alright?" Fox asked as he rushed over to help Cross to his feet.

"Yeah, but that son of a bitch is still alive." Cross said weakly.

"I'm sorry Cross, I had to get us out, I was losing power as well, but at least he doesn't have this." Ecks said, handing Krystal's staff to Fox.

"That's good, but we have to put a stop to this before it gets out of control," Fox said, taking the staff, "I think you guys need some rest, I can tell it was a tough fight."

"Yeah." Ecks said with a weak smile as he and Zivia made their way to the doors which led to the hallway, Cross left as soon as he had enough strength to walk on his own, the only thing he wanted now was sleep.

Ecks and Zivia had made it to their room, Zivia walked over to the bed and simply fell onto the mattress of comfort, "Thank you Ecks." The vixen said sleepily, Ecks looked at the vixen, she was asleep as her breaths were silent, he smiled, she looked so cute when she was asleep, but then again she always looked cute to him, the blue vulpine crawled onto the bed with Zivia and placed his arm around her stomach as he too drifted off into the chambers of sleep.

* * *

_**Author's Note: Okay, first off, that little thing when Krystal was healing Ecks, I kind of got that idea from reading Skullfox's story "Chains of Fate", I simply put it into shorter context and used my character instead of Fox, if he has a problem with that I can re-write that part of the chapter. Anyway this was another fun chapter to write, I'm having a lot of fun writing this story, sadly it must end sometime, but not too soon, it will probably be about 5 to 10 more chapters, maybe more, who knows. But yeah, thanks for the support and please review if you liked it or not.**_

_**Oh yeah...Song for the fight if one was needed: Constant Motion - Dream Theatre**_

Ignorant? Me? Ha, I don't even know what that means. ~Metallic Soul


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Ecks woke up, he felt refreshed, almost as if he had never slept before, the blue vulpine looked at the digital clock which told him it was four o'clock in the morning, a long yawn escaped from his muzzle, he noticed that Zivia was turned towards him, still asleep, her warm breaths brushing against his shoulder, Ecks saw the bruises on her, he took it upon himself to start healing her as he closed his eyes and his paw started to glow a pure white, and he placed it on the vixen's abdomen, a few moments later he could tell she was dreaming as a peaceful smile ran across her face, the blue vulpine decided to dive into her thoughts to see what it was she was dreaming about.

_Ecks landed face-first onto a soft, mushy surface, when he pulled his face away from his landing, he noticed that he had landed in sand, but then he felt a bitter taste in his mouth, the blue vulpine started spitting madly, trying to get the sand out of his mouth, luckily none had entered his eyes, as Ecks stood up, he saw a large white building in front of him, a huge sign read 'The Best Beach Resort in all of Lylat!', Ecks thought it was odd that it didn't have a real name, but he decided to float towards the building, the blue vulpine made his way around the large building, palm trees were everywhere behind the Resort, it looked like the perfect paradise, the sand soon turned to cement behind the building, where Ecks saw a large swimming pool, and a hot-tub beside it, he noticed a bright orange vixen standing with a pink robe covering her body, Ecks instantly knew it was Zivia, Ecks decided to hide behind a palm tree, luckily some of the bushes around him were oddly blue, at least that would keep him from being seen as he peaked out to look at a robe-covered Zivia, the bright orange vixen removed the robe, she was wearing a sky-blue two-piece bathing suit, it wasn't too revealing yet, it still captured all of her beauty, Ecks' eyes widened and his jaw practically hit the ground._

_"Whoa." The dark blue vulpine said under his breath, making sure that Zivia couldn't hear him as he was entranced by the vixen's beauty, he couldn't believe it, every inch of the vixen was beautiful from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, the red line that ran down the vixen's face ran to her chest, straight down between her breasts, Ecks thought this was a perfect match to her beauty as the line ran down her abdomen, she was more beautiful than he could ever hope to dream, Ecks knew he shouldn't have been spying on her like this, especially in her own mind, but he couldn't help it, after all he was still only fifteen years old._

_The bright orange vixen walked over to the hot-tub, Ecks followed her with his eyes, he still couldn't believe how beautiful Zivia was as her hips swayed seductively when she walked, her tail wagged back and forth which only increased the enticing scent she gave off, Ecks felt strange, here he was, in someone else's dream of paradise, and he felt as though he was about to fall into his own little paradise, Ecks started to feel a strange feeling in his stomach, and also felt his 'little friend' start to increase in size, but he regained his composure and snapped himself out of his trance by picturing what Cross would look like in a pink dress, a slight chuckle escaped from his muzzle, Zivia's ears twitched and Ecks cupped his paw over his mouth, the vixen turned to look in his direction._

_"Shit." Ecks cursed under his breath, not attempting to move even a centimeter, Zivia simply looked at where Ecks was hiding for what seemed like several minutes, but was only a few seconds before turning back towards the hot-tub, Ecks was only ten feet away from Zivia, and he thanked the Goddess that Zivia didn't see him, the orange vixen slowly stepped into the hot-tub, the warm water rushing onto her foot, Zivia slowly sat down on one of the ledges below the water, the vixen's lower body and torso were now under the water, Zivia leaned back onto the marble surface as the relaxing warm water engulfed her upper body, she let out a low growl, almost a purr of complete relaxation._

_Ecks could hardly contain himself, it took everything he had not to burst into laughter, he had no clue that his healing had this kind of effect on the vixen, another light chuckle escaped from his muzzle, Zivia heard it clearly this time as she quickly turned her head back in the direction where Ecks was hiding._

_"Who's there?" The bright orange vixen asked, still sitting in the warm water._

_Ecks didn't dare to move, he didn't want to know the consequences of his actions._

_"Show yourself!" Zivia shouted, the vixen stood up from the water, small drips of water fell from the vixen's fur, Ecks knew he had been caught, there was no denying it, he had no choice but to reveal himself, the dark blue vulpine slowly came into view from behind the bushes and palm tree, his ears were folded back onto his head and he had a sad look on his face as if he were a kit who was about to be scolded._

_"Ecks!?" The vixen yelled in surprise, at first she was extremely angry, but as she looked at his now purple face and his pleading eyes, Zivia sat back down on the ledge below the water and started to laugh, Ecks' sad look was now replaced by one of confusion._

_"You...You're not mad?" The puzzled vulpine asked._

_"I was but, that look on your face was priceless, you looked so cute!" She exclaimed, "Like a little kid." She added, mimicking his former look, the sides of Ecks' face could now possibly melt metal as his cheeks were extremely purple._

_"Heh...yeah." Ecks said nervously, his voice once again making an odd squeaking sound._

_"So, what are you doing in my dream anyway?" Zivia asked._

_"Wait, you know this is a dream?" Ecks ignored the question with one of his own._

_"Of course I do, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it," The vixen answered, "And now I know why it's so pleasant." She added with a seductive wink._

_"Well, as much as I hate to say it, I think it's time for us to wake up." Zivia said, Ecks agreed with her choice, as he usually did._

Both foxes woke up at the same time, Ecks' eyes widened as he felt Zivia's lips pressed against his, this was usually his reaction as these moments came rather unexpected to him, but then he embraced the vixen in his arms as the two shared a passionate kiss.

"Gettin' some action are we?" A voice asked with a chuckle, startling both Ecks and Zivia as they quickly pulled away and looked at the doorway, they saw that Cross was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and his trademark smirk on his face, Cross wore a black tank-top, a pair of dark red athletic shorts, and his white sneakers, it was easy to tell that he'd been training in the gym earlier in the day.

"More than you'll get," Zivia said, making Ecks chuckle a bit, "How did you get in here anyway?" She asked.

"Fox opened the door for me, while you two were tongue wrestling, I've just been going about my day, I was hanging out in the bridge when Fox and Krystal were getting into a moment of their own, and I didn't want to be around for that, it turns out that I can't escape it today, oh well," Cross said, turning to leave the room, "Oh yeah, it's ten o'clock right now, so don't get too caught up in your little 'love fest'." He ended with a laugh as the door slid shut behind him.

"So, you want--" Ecks was cut-off as the vixen once again pressed her lips to his, Zivia pulled away a few seconds later, Ecks' face still had the same expression as he looked at Zivia.

"What was it you were gonna say?" The vixen asked.

"Uhh...what?" Ecks questioned as he couldn't remember what he was going to say before Zivia had kissed him, Zivia giggled as she pulled the covers off of her body, the vixen was only wearing underwear and a bra, Ecks looked away quickly so that he didn't accidentally start staring again, Zivia stood up, walked over to the dresser and took out two pieces of clothing, then the vixen walked over to the personal restroom.

"I'll be out in a few minutes." She said before walking into the restroom, Ecks laid back onto the bed and simply thought about Zivia, that was all he could think about after they returned from Coluxine, he promised himself to always protect her, even if he had to give his own life, she would never be taken from him again.

* * *

1:30 PM

Fox, Falco, and Cross had been training in the gym for the past two hours, Falco and Fox evened it out a bit by moving from a weight machine to one of the punching bags or a treadmill, Cross only stayed with the punching bag, it was his time of peace, despite the fury he possessed with each strike, Fox wore a white tank-top, a pair of dark green athletic shorts, and a pair of white sneakers, Falco wore a black muscle shirt, dark blue track pants, and his combat boots, a few minutes later, Krystal, Zivia, and Ecks had walked into the room, Krystal was wearing a dark blue tee-shirt, a pair of blue-jeans, and her purple boots, Zivia wore a bright red tee-shirt which matched the red line on her face perfectly, and a white pair of loose-fitting jeans, Ecks was clad in a white tee-shirt, a baggy pair of black jeans, and his black sneakers, the three foxes also had a guest with them, Falco recognized her instantly.

"Katt!" The blue avian yelled with excitement, a smile on his beak as he quickly made his way over to greet the pink feline who was wearing a camouflage tee-shirt, a pair of black cargo pants, and combat boots.

"Hi Falco." Katt greeted him back with a hug.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I wanted to see how you guys were holding up." She answered.

A loud grunt came from Cross as his fist hit the punching bag with incredible force, knocking the bag back but not enough to break the chain it was held by, "I'm done for the day." The red vulpine said as he was breathing heavily, Katt gently pushed Falco out of the way and walked over to Cross.

"And who's this little cutie?" She asked with a smile, the rest of the group laughed, Cross groaned at being called a 'cutie', he hated that, couldn't they see that he was a total badass? Obviously not as the girls were always calling him cute, Cross was glad that his fur was dark red because he was blushing madly, even though he hated being called cute, he always seemed to blush when it was a female who was calling him cute, and he always became nervous around a woman he hadn't met.

"I...uh...my name...is...uh." He was just going to say his name, but for some reason he couldn't find any words, Ecks floated over to the two.

"His name is Cross, my twin brother, he's also not very good at talking to girls." Ecks said, Ecks wasn't very good at talking to women either, that was until he met Zivia.

"Hey at least I'm not whipped!" Cross retorted with a glare, Katt was silent for a moment, simply looking at Ecks, then Cross, then back to Ecks.

"Both of you are just so adorable!" The pink feline exclaimed as she grabbed the two vulpine and hugged them, the air was almost completely driven out of the brothers as they gasped, Ecks looked at Fox.

"A little...help here?" Ecks asked weakly, Falco was of course laughing his ass off at the two vulpine's expense.

"Sorry, but if Katt wants something, she usually gets it." Fox said with a chuckle and a shrug of his shoulders, Ecks looked at Krystal with a pleading look, but she was too busy laughing, after what seemed like several minutes but was only mere seconds, Katt released her death-grip on the two vulpine.

"Sorry, you two are just so cute! I couldn't help myself." Katt giggled.

"They are kind of cute." Krystal agreed with a friendly smile.

"Heh...thanks." Ecks rubbed the back of his head as he blushed.

"Stop calling me cute!" Cross yelled.

"But it's true." Katt said with a smile, pinching Cross' cheek, Falco was still laughing his head off.

"I'm not a kid dammit!" Cross yelled. slapping the feline's paw away.

"Cross, we're fifteen so, technically we're still kids." Ecks said.

"Shut up! You're not helping!" Cross shouted at his brother.

"True, but neither is your constant whining." Cross had no response to this, he simply crossed his arms and sighed, admitting defeat.

"Now _that _is cute." Katt said before turning around and walking back to the exit.

"Don't worry, she's just messing with you." Fox told them when the feline left.

"Yeah, get used to it, 'cause there's plenty more to come." Falco added before leaving the gym as well.

The rest of the group decided to head to the bridge, not a single soul was in the room, but suddenly, "Call from Corneria." ROB said in his monotone voice.

"Patch it through." Fox said, Pepper's face appeared on the monitor.

"Fox! We're under attack!" The old hound exclaimed.

"Again!?" Fox and Krystal asked in unison.

"Yes! Get down here NOW!!" The dog yelled, after this the transmission was ended.

"Alright, you heard him, let's go!" Fox ordered.

* * *

_**Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter was a bit slow, and short, but this was more of a filler chapter and a bit of comic relief in certain areas, and there's something I want to bring up, I know this hasn't been mentioned at all in the reviews, but I feel the need to explain, I've noticed that I cut away from what's happening a lot when I describe what a character is wearing, I'm sorry if this becomes annoying, but I want to describe everything that I possibly can, this includes clothing and what-not, I just felt like I needed to clear that up. Anyway this was another fun chapter to write, as were the others, I hope you enjoyed reading this and thank you all for the support, oh yeah and don't forget: REVIEW MY STORY OR I WILL FIND YOU AND EAT YOU...just kidding, but yeah, please review and blah blah nothing else important blah blah.**_

Ignorant? Me? Ha, I don't even know what that means. ~Metallic Soul


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

_**Song of the Day: Sound of Madness by Shinedown**_

2:00 PM

Everyone was prepared for the battle at hand as they were all in the docking bay, Fox, Krystal, Falco, and Slippy were all in their battle gear, Katt was still wearing her camouflage tee-shirt, her black cargo pants, and black combat boots, Zivia was dressed in the camouflage flight suit she wore when she first came to the ship, and a pair of black boots, Hax wore a grey tee-shirt, a pair of light-blue jeans, and a pair of combat boots as well, Alexia was clad in a black tee-shirt, a pair of dark blue-jeans, and it seemed that combat boots were popular as she also wore a pair of the heavy footwear, Ecks wore a white tee-shirt, baggy black jeans, and his black sneakers, and Cross wore his black tee-shirt which had a flame-engulfed skull on it, a black pair of baggy jeans, and his trademark white sneakers, Fox looked at this and it felt like deja-vu to him.

"Is everyone ready?" The light-brown vulpine asked, recieving nods of approval from each individual, "Right then, Cross, Ecks, Hax, and Alexia will cover the ground, while the rest of us cover the air, is that clear?" He asked.

"Just don't get in my way." Falco said, everyone else simply nodded their heads, Fox, Krystal, Falco, and Slippy climbed into their individual Arwings, Katt jumped into her pink one, Hax and Alexia entered the side of Zivia's unique ship, Zivia gave Ecks a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Be careful." Ecks told her with concern.

"Don't worry." Zivia replied with a smile as she climbed into the cockpit of her aircraft and closed the hatch, she couldn't even be visibly seen through the cockpit, but Ecks knew she was looking at him, Fox decided it best that Ecks teleport himself and Cross to Corneria so that Cross wouldn't have a panic attack, Ecks closed his eyes as Fox and the others were getting set for take off, Ecks placed his paw on Cross' shoulder as his eyes opened, revealing his dark blue irises, the white aura engulfed the two vulpine, and they vanished.

* * *

Cross and Ecks appeared right in the line of fire, they instantly had to dodge blaster fire wildly as it wasn't expected, a few seconds later the two quickly found cover behind a dumpster in an alley, Cross pulled the dumpster with one arm so it would block any fire that came their way, "Bet you didn't see this one coming." Cross said with a chuckle as his irises turned dark red.

Ecks laughed a bit, "You ready?" He asked.

"Hell yeah!" Cross exclaimed before leaping into the air, the dark red vulpine landed on a purple-clad soldier, a scream of death could be heard over the entire area.

Ecks floated a bit higher and peeked over the dumpster, only to a massive amount of red lasers come his way, he quickly dropped down behind the dumpster, they were waiting for him, "Alright, if you want to play that way." Ecks said, backing up a bit, he simply looked at the dumpster, a moment later it shot straight out, and crashed into a building, blood leaked from the side of the dumpster as Ecks floated out into the open, he immediately started to teleport constantly so as not to get hit by any blaster fire, and he had a city full of objects at his disposal, the blue vulpine teleported behind three enemy soldiers, two of the three were sent flying into the distance as spheres of air slammed against them, the one soldier couldn't react in time as a trash can smashed into his helmet with immense force, no matter how small or big an object was, Ecks could use it with lethal intent, another soldier unloaded a barrage of lasers from his assault rifle, but Ecks reacted by covering himself in a barrier, the laser fire reflected off the barrier and shot right back at the unlucky soldier, blasting holes into the soldier's chest, Cross was also handling himself just fine, gracefully dodging red laser fire with ease, the red vulpine grabbed an empty glass bottle from the ground as he ran by, and hurled it at an unsuspecting soldier, the bottle hit the soldier on the side of his helmet, the force of the thrown object was so immense that it cracked the helmet and knocked the soldier unconscious, Cross became bored with dodging as he ran straight at the four soldiers who were firing at him, and in one quick motion, all four soldiers fell limply to the ground, blood could be seen rushing from the dead bodies, there was a lone soldier behind Cross who had the barrel of his rifle pointed directly at the vulpine's head, but before the soldier could fire, a blue laser shot pierced his skull, Cross turned around to see the soldier fall to the ground, he looked to where the shot that saved his life came from, and saw a black furred lupine with his own rifle.

"Just thought I'd help you out!" 'The lupine shouted.

"Thanks Hax!" Cross yelled back, just then, an explosion occurred right next to the dark red vulpine, sending him flying towards building, but Cross regained his composure just before slamming into the wall, and flipped to where his feet were placed on the side of the building, Cross hopped off of the wall and landed on the ground with amazing grace, and saw a large purple tank, unfortunately it was set to fire again, and the barrel was pointed directly at Cross, but just then, a barrage of large blue lasers hit the tank, causing it to explode, Cross looked to the sky and saw a Wolfen.

"We got your back kid!" A voice yelled to Cross.

"Wolf?! What are you doing here?" Fox asked as he took out two purple air-crafts.

"I figured that I like this place, plus we're getting a pretty big pay-day for helping you guys out!" The lupine answered as two more Wolfens came into view, blasting more purple air-crafts.

"Impudent Doombringers! You are nothing to the Great Leon!" The lizard yelled.

"Anything to help my sweet, beautiful Krystal." A low, smooth voice said.

"Ha, in your dreams, Panther." Krystal said over the com. link, Cross smirked, it seemed that they would win the battle after all.

Alright, the air forces have been taken out." Fox told them.

"Great! But we need some help down here!" Hax exclaimed.

"I'm sure you can handle the rest, good luck kid, Star Wolf, let's go!" Wolf ordered as the three Wolfens took off, just then, a white beam shot into the sky, clipping the side of Slippy's Arwing.

"Sorry guys! I gotta get back to the Great Fox!" Slippy said as his Arwing took off into the sky, Cross looked to where the white beam had come from, he saw a cloaked figure holding a large pistol.

"Chaos." Cross growled, speeding towards the black vulpine, Chaos was unsuspecting as Cross snatched the weapon from him.

"You!" Chaos exclaimed.

"Yeah, me, and it looks like you can't do much without this." Cross smirked, showing his left fang.

"Ah yes, but I am not alone." Chaos returned with a smirk of his own, suddenly, Rage appeared right in front of Cross, and a forceful punch sent Cross smashing into a building, luckily he han't let go of the large pistol.

"Cross!" Ecks yelled in concern for his brother, but before he could help the red vulpine, a massive paw grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into a wall with destructive force, then Ecks was slammed into the ground, Zivia had landed and climbed out of her fighter as Ecks fell unconscious, a large lupine was standing over the dark blue vulpine as Zivia and the others approached him.

"You bastard." Zivia said, taking her battle stance, Fox, Krystal, Katt, and Falco all took their fighting stances as well, Hax and Alexia were dealing with other problem on another side of the city, so it would just be the four of them against this massive wolf.

"I do not have time for this," Chaos said, pushing a button on a small device, a small pod appeared next to him, and the black vulpine entered, "After you kill them, bring me the weapon, do not fail me Thrash." Chaos said before the small pod shot into the sky.

"You five? This should be easy." The large lupine said, getting set to charge them, but just as he did this, he couldn't seem to move, he looked down to see that Ecks had regained consciousness, and his eyes were completely flushed over with white, suddenly the lupine was lifted into the air, and slammed onto the ground, leaving a large crater, the wolf stood up slowly, but Ecks was right in front of him, a furious look on his face, the lupine was suddenly sent flying into a building, Ecks followed him, his right paw started to glow an even brighter white than the rest of his body as he bundled it into a fist, the lupine just barely dodged the punch, which completely disintegrated the building, Ecks slowly turned around as he floated high in the air.

"Kidnapping Zivia was the worst mistake of your life." Ecks said in a harsh tone.

* * *

Cross was in the rubble of the building he had smashed into, "Now I finally end you," Cross said, a moment later he burst from the rubble, and stood before Rage, "Krystal! Take this!" He yelled, throwing the pistol to the cerulean furred vixen, she caught it.

"You won't defeat me Cross, I know every move you will make before you even make it." Rage told the red vulpine.

"Then I guess I'll have to mix it up." Cross said, he grabbed the sides of his head in pain and fell to his knees, his eyes started to wash over with a blood red, a few seconds later, he looked to the sky and roared loudly, this even sent a shiver down Rage's spine as he felt true fear for the first time, and enraged Cross dashed at the black vulpine, slamming his fist into Rage's jaw, but as Rage was lifted into the air by the heavy punch, Cross grabbed his leg and slammed him forcefully to the ground, Rage recovered however and leaped high into the air, slamming his foot into the side of the red vulpine's face when he came down, Cross staggered a bit, and Rage then landed a straight punch to Cross' nose, making him stagger back a bit more, Rage went to land another heavy punch, but Cross countered by grabbing the black vulpine's arm, and pulling Rage towards him, Cross shot his knee out and it slammed into Rage's stomach, forcing the air out of him, then he shot his fist straight into the black vulpine's chest, sending him flying and crashing through a building, on the other side, Rage was getting to his feet slowly as Cross approached him, his eyes still completely red.

"It seems I have underestimated you, this will be a good fight." Rage said with an evil grin as he spat out a clot of blood, the two vulpine would continue their battle.

* * *

Thrash and Ecks were still going at it, Ecks had the advantage on multiple occasions, but the large lupine was persistant, Ecks had telekinetically slammed him on just about every inch of the area, but every time he would go in for the killing blow, the lupine still found a way to counter it, Ecks was ready to strike his final attack as his fist began to glow a pure white, he teleported right in front of the wolf, and shot his glowing fist at the lupine, but once again, Thrash countered with a brutal punch to the side of Ecks' face before he could do anything, sending him flying backwards, Ecks caught himself as he floated in the air, he had to end this soon, he wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer, Krystal was fiddling with the pistol that Cross had thrown to her, she had no idea how to use it, but then, something popped into her head as she pulled out her staff, and extended the weapon to its full length, she propped it into the outer barrel of the large pistol, the metallic structure of it forged itself around the staff, turning it into a long rifle, Ecks took his final chance at the massive lupine, he flew towards the wolf, his right fist started to glow, Thrash was ready for the attack, but suddenly, his body lifted into the air, and slammed against the ground, when the wolf's body bounced back up, Ecks slammed his glowing fist right through the stunned lupine's stomach, Ecks pulled his arm out of the wolf's torso, Ecks wasn't finished, his right arm became enshrouded in a white, blade-like aura, then, in quick motion, he slashed the lupine's throat, blood started to pour from the large gash as the wolf grasped his own neck.

"Do it now, Krystal!" Ecks yelled, Krystal closed her eyes as she pointed the weapon at Thrash, when she opened them, her eyes were flushed over with white, and a massive white beam shot from the barrel, the beam was as large as a small building, Ecks quickly teleported to where the others stood, the huge beam engulfed Thrash, disintegrating his body to nothing, Ecks' eyes reverted back to their normal silver gleam as he fell to his knees, Zivia came to the young vulpine's aid.

"Thank...the Goddess...that's over." Ecks said in-between heavy breaths.

* * *

Cross an Rage continued their heated fight, each would land heavy attacks, but neither would let up, Rage dashed at Cross, but Cross shot his right leg out in a roundhouse attempt, Rage ducked under the heavy kick, and swept at Cross' leg supporting him, Cross hopped over the sweep kick and threw a punch at the black vulpine, Rage quickly dodged as Cross' fist left a small crater in the ground, but Cross stayed on the offensive as he shot his left leg upward, smashing into Rage's mouth, the black fox stumbled backwards a bit and Cross quickly threw a punch as his left paw connected with the black vulpine's stomach, driving the air out of him, Cross then did a back-flip, the toe of his shoe hitting Rage's chin, lifting the black vulpine off of the ground, Rage recovered and back-flipped into a perfect landing, Cross dashed at the black vulpine once again, but Rage saw this coming as he cut Cross off with an elbow to the chin, Rage followed up with a straight kick to Cross' chest, sending the dark red vulpine flying through a building, landing on the other side, Cross looked over to see that the others ha defeated Thrash, Cross struggled to stand as Rage casually approached him.

"There will always be destruction, you are just post-poning the inevitable, so why do you fight?" Rage asked.

"I fight, for a chance of hope, for a chance that someday the destruction will stop," Cross said weakly as he stood, "I fight to rid the universe of shit like you!" He yelled.

"Pity you fight for such meaningless things,but now you must die." Rage said with an evil grin, just then, the black vulpine dashed at Cross, but Cross caught him by the throat, Rage had a surprised look on his face as he struggled to escape the dark red vulpine's grasp.

"No, it's a pity that you actually thought you could beat me." Cross said before ripping out a chunk of the black vulpine's throat, causing blood to leak everywhere, Rage grasped his own throat, trying to gasp for air as his body thrashed about wildly as he lay dying on the ground, but in mere seconds, the black vulpine stopped moving, he was finally dead, Cross dropped to his knees from exhaustion as his eyes changed back to their golden shine.

"Now there's only two left." Cross said before passing out from pain mixed with exhaustion.

* * *

_**Author's Note: First off, I'm not very good with air battles, I'm better with physical hand-to-hand combat, I'm not great at it, but I'm at least half-way decent. Anyway I originally thought about ending the story on this chapter, but then thought better of it and figured I could work it out a bit longer, this was yet another fun chapter to write and I'm thinking about a sequel-type...thing for it, not really gonna go into details about it though. Once again, please review if you want to, and I'll be sure to read them, thanks for reading and I deeply appreciate the support.**_

Ignorant? Me? Ha, I don't even know what that means. ~Metallic Soul


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

_Cross' vision was blurred, nothing could be seen except for darkness, but then something started to slowly come into view, Cross saw a bright light, and then a pure white furred kit walked up to him, Cross recognized this place he was in, the room was large, the walls were light tan color, there were two beds over to the right, and large light brown, wooden dressers beside each of them, Cross looked at the white furred kit who's silver eyes gleamed in the light._

_"So, are you ready today, brother?" The white kit asked, he was dressed in a dark blue tank-top, a pair of light blue jean-shorts, and black sneakers._

_Cross had no control over his body movements as he nodded, the vulpine saw a mirror, he only caught a glimpse of himself, but where he would usually see a dark red fox with an X on his forehead, he now saw a young black furred kit in his own reflection he was wearing a pure white tee-shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans, and white sneakers, Cross turned towards a door which opened as a tall black vulpine dressed in a white lab coat, black slacks, and a pair of black dress shoes walked in and smiled at the two young kits._

_"Are you boys ready for our little project?" The black vulpine asked in a smooth, calming tone as he placed his paw on top of Cross' head._

_"Yes, father." Answered the white kit that Cross assumed was Ecks._

_Father? No, this black fox couldn't possibly be Chaos, could it? He was far too nice, not the cold, heartless son of a bitch that Cross knew, but something in the back of his mind told him other-wise, Cross was trying to figure all of this out when a white flash blurred his vision, when his sight returned, he was in the middle of a large white room, he spotted about four or five others in the room that wore lab coats just like the one his father wore, he also noticed out of the corner of his eye that bubbles were floating upward, his right paw suddenly reached out and felt a smooth, hard surface, his only assumption was that the surface he felt against his paw was glass, he also noticed that his fur was the dark red color that he remembered as he looked at his right arm, Cross also saw that he was suspended off of the ground, held by numerous chords, Cross was in some sort of tube, his body was completely engulfed in water as he felt a mask against his muzzle, somehow he hadn't noticed this, and then suddenly his head started to throb with extreme pain, he grasped the sides of his head and thrashed about uncontrollably, his fist slammed against the glass chamber he was encased in, shattering it into oblivion, water spilled out onto the floor, and Cross looked at the scientists around him as he stood, each had a look of fear in their eyes, one black vulpine walked up to him._

_"This is what we have worked so hard for," The black vulpine said, "My son."_

* * *

Cross awoke suddenly, feeling a throbbing pain in the back of his head, he looked up, and noticed that he was in the cockpit of an Arwing as he saw the many stars in the darkness of space, "What happened?" Cross asked, hoping to hear a response.

"We're heading back to the Great Fox," A voice answered, Cross could tell it was Fox, "You and Ecks took a pretty bad beating." The light brown vulpine added with a slight chuckle.

"Why does my head hurt so much?" Cross asked.

"You probably hit your head when we were leaving the atmosphere, you should be alright in a few hours." Fox said as if he didn't care.

"Thanks for the concern." Cross had a sarcastic tone in his voice as he leaned back in the seat, normally he would've been having a panic attack at the sight of flying, but they had already left the planet and he liked looking at the stars, besides, he had other things on his mind, like what the hell that little dream was, was it a dream, or a memory? Cross brushed the thought away, whatever it was, it didn't matter now, time was here and now, and they still had yet to destroy Chaos.

Fox's Arwing docked in the docking bay, Fox had noticed that Katt's pink Arwing wasn't their anymore so he figured that she left, they found Zivia, Ecks and Krystal waiting for them, Ecks still had enough energy to do his little floating thing, Fox hopped out of his Arwing and walked over to the three, he looked back and saw that Cross was still sitting in the cockpit, "Hey Cross, you coming or not?" Fox asked, Cross mumbled something.

"What was that?" Zivia asked with a grin as she placed her hands on her hips, Cross spoke a bit louder, but it was still nothing more than a mumble.

"What? Speak up." Zivia said again, she just loved messing with Cross.

"I said I need some help dammit!" Cross shouted, he hated to admit when he needed help, but he had taken quite a beating in the fight with Rage, Zivia chuckled as she walked over to the aircraft an hopped onto the wing, she crouched down and wrapped her arms around Cross' mid-section, she lifted him up with ease, he was much lighter than she had expected.

"You're like a little doll." She teased, Cross simply groaned a bit, Zivia hopped down from the wing of the ship and set Cross down, he could stand, but not very well, "Do you need me to carry you to your room?" The orange vixen chuckled.

"No, I'm just fine with walking." Cross replied as he walked gingerly to the doors which led to the halls, sleep was the only thing on his mind right now, Cross promised to himself that Chaos would die the next time they met. Fox, Krystal, Zivia and Ecks had decided to head over to the bridge, they knew this would be coming to an end soon, and now they just had to find out where Chaos was, or where he would strike next.

* * *

The group had decided to go to the bridge to figure out a plan for their next course of action, "So...what're we gonna do?" Falco asked, Hax, Alexia and Slippy were also in the bridge.

"We need some sort of plan, usually I can think of something but we have no clue where they are." Fox rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"Actually," Hax started, a grin showing on his face as he reached into his pocket, "We do." The lupine pulled out a small chip.

"What's that?" Alexia asked, even she didn't know what Hax was up to.

"A tracking chip, I slipped it onto his little escape pod when he ran from us on Corneria." The lupine told them.

The group was surprised, "Hax, you're a genius." Alexia said.

"I know, and that's why you love me." The black lupine said arrogantly as he stood up from the couch and walked over to the computer terminal, he proceeded to sit in the chair, "Now we just put this little thing in here and..." He slipped the chip into a small slot on the terminal, ",..bingo." The lupine said with a grin as a radar-like map appeared on the screen, he turned around in the chair with a victorious look.

"I'm guessing that's where Chaos is?" Fox asked, pointing to a blinking red dot on the black map.

"Yep, and I can also pin-point his location." The black wolf said as he cracked his knuckles and turned back around to face the terminal, his fingers danced on the keyboard for a few seconds, "He's somewhere in the Grexian galaxy..." The black lupine informed them, "...on some planet called 'Lunixie'."

"That's probably where his base is." Fox said, if his assumption was true, then that meant this would be a bit more difficult than he thought, "We all need to get some sleep, tomorrow is when we end this." The light brown vulpine told the group as he turned to leave the bridge.

* * *

Cross was laying on his bed, he was trying to sleep, but something was bothering him, he had been thinking about it ever since their little 'trip' to Katina, who was the vixen that Ecks had fought, and how did she have the same abilities as Ecks? Ecks had told Cross that she was their mother, but he didn't understand, he thought about it a bit longer, and could only come up with one explanation as his eyes widened, no, that couldn't be it, if that were the case then Cross was...

A loud bang on the door snapped Cross out of his trance, "Who the fuck?!" He shouted as he practically jumped to the ceiling, "Who is it?" He asked, trying to catch his breath, he could instantly tell who it was on the other side of the door as he heard hysterical laughing, "What do you want Falco?" He asked, sitting up.

"I'm just here to tell you to get some sleep, we're gonna find Chaos tomorrow." The avian told him.

Cross simply lay back down on the mattress and kept thinking about the vixen they saw on Katina, oh well, it didn't matter now, all of this would hopefully come to an end the next day.

* * *

Ecks woke up slowly, he looked from the red couch he was laying in to the bed, he had decided not to sleep in the bed with Zivia from now on, he thought that the two should take things slow for a while, and she agreed, Ecks noticed that the orange vixen wasn't in the bed as the sheets were scrambled about the mattress, he looked to the clock which read 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Ecks quickly jumped up as he remembered that they were supposed to search the unknown planet for Chaos, Ecks didn't even bother to fix the bed as he rushed out of the room after quickly putting his clothes on, he wore a simple dark blue tee-shirt which was just a tad lighter than his fur, a pair of light blue-jeans and his black sneakers, the navy blue vulpine floated quickly down the halls to the docking bay, when he arrived he found Fox, Krystal, Falco, Cross, Zivia and Alexia waiting for him.

"About damn time, I'm ready to kick some ass!" Alexia surprisingly yelled, it was clear that the light grey lupine was ready for battle as she wore a full body camouflage outfit and black leather combat boots, she had a rather large grenade launcher strapped to her back, and a blaster was holstered on both sides of her waist, Zivia was clad in a silver, full-bodied flight suit with equally silver boots, the vixen had a sniper rifle strapped on her back, and a blaster in her side holster if she needed to use it, but it was a rare case that she would need to use it, Cross wore his same usual type of clothing, a black tee-shirt, black jeans and of course, his white sneakers.

"Where are the others?" Ecks asked, he'd expected to see Slippy and Hax there as well.

"Slippy's doing some repairs on his Arwing, and Hax is staying on the ship, he needs to hack the defense systems again, we did find out that there is a base, so maybe we'll get lucky.." Fox told him, "Are you ready for this?"

"Yeah, although I will need to ride with someone, since I don't know what this planet looks like I can't exactly teleport there." Ecks informed.

"Well, take your pick." Fox said, and of course, Ecks floated over to Zivia's ship, Cross hopped into Fox's Arwing, once again his muscles were tense to no one's surprise, Ecks and Alexia climbed into the side compartment in Zivia's aircraft as the others got into their Arwings, a few moments later, the docking bay doors opened up and four ships shot out into space.

"Hax, you got it yet?" Fox asked through the com. link.

"Yeah, be quick though." The lupine said, the ships then quickly shot towards the bright green planet.

The four aircrafts landed in a large grassy plain, there was almost nothing in sight for miles except for mountains and grass, everyone got out of their ships, especially Cross as he had yet another panic attack, everyone simply ignored him, "So, anyway you can sense where we need to go?" Fox asked Ecks.

"Yeah, just a minute." The blue vulpine closed his eyes, a few seconds later they re-opened, "In there." He said, pointing straight, there was nothing there however

"What?" Fox questioned.

"That's all I can sense." Ecks told him.

"Well let's get over there then." Cross said as he had recovered from his dilemma, the group started to walk, a few minutes later however, Cross tripped over something.

"Fuck!" The red vulpine shouted, the others turned around to see the vulpine holding his knee as he glared at a rock beside a small hole, the rock wasn't too big, yet it wasn't exactly small either, it was obvious that Cross had tripped over the hole and bashed his knee against the rock, Cross' eyes turned a dark red as he dug his claws into the hole and ripped a large chunk out of the ground, he proceeded to curse wildly at the now devastated piece of land, Fox walked over and noticed what seemed to be a door.

"Nice going Cross, now we won't have to walk so far." The light brown vulpine said.

"What?" Cross asked dumbfounded.

"Looks like you found us a door." Fox said again.

"Uh...yeah, I knew that was there." Cross lied, Fox opened the door which made a loud creeking sound, it seemed as though it hadn't been used in ages, there was nothing but darkness in the hole which wasn't a surprise, Fox decided to throw the rock that Cross had ever so gracefully bashed his knee against down the hole, two seconds later the group heard a resounding thud.

"I guess we won't have to repel after all." Fox said, shrugging his shoulders, Cross immediately jumped down the hole, and the others followed, it was dark, they had a small sliver of light but, not enough to see where they needed to go.

"I have an idea." Ecks said, a moment later, Ecks' body started to glow a pure white aura, it didn't give them a lot of light, but it was enough, "Let's proceed." The dark blue vulpine said, after what seemed like an eternity of walking, the darkness suddenly disappeared as the entire area lit up with light, it was as they had assumed, the group was indeed inside a cave, the crystals on the walls glittered beautifully.

"Good to see you again my sons," A cold voice echoed, "I haven't really been so nice to you boys lately, so I decided to give you a present." The voice snickered as a large piece of the crystal wall suddenly bagan to move, but then out of nowhere, a red laser shot from the crystal form at the group, they reacted quickly and jumped out of the way, Zivia and Alexia had taken cover behind a small wall of rocks, while Krystal and Fox had found a small crevice in a seperate wall to hide in, the crystal form had now stepped away from the wall it was embedded into, it moved a bit slow, two large barrels were at the end of what seemed to be arms, but the rest of its body was consumed in stone, Ecks and Cross were the only two who hadn't taken cover, another large red beam shot out at the two vulpine, Ecks teleported out of the way, and a dark red flash now took Cross' place as it dashed around the room, dodging red laser fire, Alexia rolled out from behind her cover and stood up, she pointed her large weapon at the crystal form, and a grenade escaped from the barrel, the projectile was dead-on as it exploded, but the enemy was unfazed by the attack, a red beam shot out at the lupine, she quickly rolled out of the way and back behind her cover, Fox jumped out from the crevice and fired a few shots from his blaster, however his actions proved to be futile as the shots were seemingly absorbed by the crystal form, Fox quickly made his way back to the crevice in the wall with Krystal, Cross was behind the small stone wall with Zivia and Alexia.

"How are we gonna kill this thing?" Zivia wondered out loud, suddenly Ecks appeared out of nowhere, he was floating in mid-air as crystals hovered around him, a moment later, the crystals shot at the enemy, but yet again, this proved to have no effect.

"Wait, I have an idea." Cross smirked, "Krystal!" He shouted, "Let's try to get close to this thing!" He yelled, the blue vixen nodded in return, her staff wasn't equipped with the two parts that they had obtained from Chaos, but that wouldn't be a problem, "The rest of you guys need to create a distraction." Cross said before rushing out and dodging more red beams, Zivia and Alexia ran out from their cover, Alexia fired another grenade at the crystal form, and Zivia let a shot escape from her sniper, of course these had no effect, but that wasn't the point of the attack, Fox ran out from and let a barrage of fire escape from his blaster, Krystal had read Cross' mind and the plan was clear as she quickly ran out towards the enemy, one red beam almost hit her, but Ecks threw a large crystal in the red beam's path, blocking the vixen from harm, when Krystal got close enough, she jabbed the back end of her staff onto the crystal form's mid-section and did a quake attack, the attack was enough to shoot the form back into the wall, Cross quickly followed and dashed toward the enemy, with one loud grunt, he dug his right hand into the form's mid-section, just as he thought, it was indeed a robot as he felt chords on the inside of it, he ripped a small box out of the robot and jumped away, a few seconds later, the enemy fell to the ground, not moving an inch, Cross turned around to face the group, a victorious smirk on his face.

"See, he wasn't so t--" Cross was cut off as a long silver blade extended from his chest, dripping with blood.

"BROTHER!!" Ecks screamed.

* * *

_**Author's Note: 'Bout damn time I got this up huh? Anyway, sorry I didn't get this up sooner, I would have, but on one sentence yet again, I didn't know what to put, that really pisses me off sometimes, oh well, once again please R&R and thank you for the support.**_

Ignorant? Me? Ha, I don't even know what that means. ~Metallic Soul


	24. Skies Have Fallen

Chapter 24: Skies Have Fallen

"Cross," Ecks yelled as his upper body shot up from the bed he was laying in, startling the vixen beside him.

"Ecks what's wrong," Zivia asked, there was a slight hint of irritation in her voice.

The dark blue vulpine looked around the room, breathing heavily. "A dream," He said softly. "All a dream." Ecks knew it wasn't just a dream, no dream ever felt that real.

"About what," The orange vixen asked as she put her hand on his shoulder.

Ecks looked to the vixen and smiled. "Nothing, it's over now." His breathing had slowed down. Ecks looked over to the clock, it read 11:30 in the morning, "We should check if the others are awake, we have a big day today," He said as he pulled the red covers off of himself. Ecks was getting more comfortable with being around Zivia as not only had he decided to sleep in the bed with her, but he also slept shirtless. Ecks thought back to his dream and realized that he was sleeping on the couch in the dream, at least that was a difference, but for some reason he couldn't shake the feeling that something would happen, and not in the good sense either.

After a few minutes, Zivia had stepped out of the personal restroom with a new set of clothes on, not her normal revealing wear, but something more suitable for combat, it was the exact same silver flight suit she wore in his dream. Ecks didn't like this, he was going to have to make sure to keep his eyes open for anything. "Zivia, may I ask you something," Ecks asked as he sat on the edge of the bed. The blue vulpine was wearing a white tee-shirt and a pair of light-blue jeans.

"What's that?"

"Could you possibly stay here, on the ship? I don't want anything to happen." The blue fox tilted his head forward as he looked up at Zivia. It was almost as if he was begging.

Zivia smiled at the young vulpine, "Ecks," She started as she sat down beside him and put her hand on his back. "I know you're concerned for me, and I thank you for that, but nothing will change my mind about this, I'm going with you. Besides, you might need my help."

"Yes, but if anything were to happen to you..."

"Don't talk like that, you know I can handle myself pretty well," she cut him off, then sighed. She needed a way to change the subject, and fast. "Hey, tell me something," The vixen started. "What was your father like before he went insane," She asked, hoping that she didn't hit a nerve.

Ecks sighed, he knew this question would pop up, "Well, first, my father's name was Deidrin before he changed it for the worse. He was actually an extremely kind man. I remember he'd use to sit and tell my brother and I about all the times in his life, good and bad. He dreaded the days when he would have to stay at the laboratory and work on further studies. He was trying to find a way to create a weapon powerful enough to protect us from any who might try to harm our homeland. But, after so much work and dedication put into it, he gave up on it. Then, when my brother and I became seven years old, our home was robbed by a bunch of thugs. For some reason they didn't take anything, my guess is that they were looking for the research to create the weapon. They couldn't get into the lab, and it wasn't there anyway. They found out that the research was somewhere in our home, but after hours of searching for it, and us, they became frustrated and left. My father didn't want something like that to ever happen again, just in case he wasn't there to protect us. That is when he thought up the idea for his scientists to make us into experiments, just to give us abilities to protect ourselves." Ecks laid back onto the bed, and stared at the ceiling, a saddened look sweeping across his face. "Then he became corrupt with power. He realized that us two could possibly destroy planets, which is an extremely inaccurate assumption, and thought who could stop him? But there was one problem he overlooked, my brother has had a temper even before the experiments, and the work they did to him only increased his rage. Thus, is the reason my father tried to have him disposed of. I've told the next part countless times, I don't feel like telling it again."

Zivia took in Ecks's words, then, after a few moments. "Hmm, what is your real name, and Cross's?" The vixen's words made Ecks jump a bit. He wasn't expecting that question.

"Well, my real name is Quelin, and my brother's name is Shrieth. We both prefer what we go by now. Anymore questions?"

"Nope. We should get going. Nice name by the way," The vixen said, leaning in and planting one quick peck on his forehead before standing up and walking to the door. "You coming?"

"Oh, yeah," He said, floating over to the vixen. A few things were still on the vulpine's mind though. Was Chaos expecting them to attack? Did he already have his legion ready for defense? Would Zivia truly be alright? The vulpine could only hope.

***

Everyone was on the bridge, going over strategies on what to do as Ecks and Zivia entered. "Fox you sure about this," Hax asked. "I mean, we're not exactly at even odds here, there's what, nine of us here, and about a thousand of them?"

"Ha," Cross cut in. "Numbers don't mean shit. all we have to do is take out Chaos. Once he's dead they won't even know how to wipe their own asses. They're too dependant."

"And thanks to Vaughn hacking one of their defense systems, we know what the outside looks like," Alexia cut in, eaning over and resting her head on the black lupine's shoulder.

"I try," Hax said as he brushed the white lock of hair over his eye, only to have it return to the same spot. He clicked his tongue in annoyance

"We leave in three hours," Fox said, turning around. "We're in the planet's orbit now, so everyone needs to be ready by then." With that, the captain left the bridge.

"You know, you two haven't really told us anything about yourselves," Krystal said, turning to Hax and Alexia. "Since this could be a final mission, you might as well say something."

Hax sighed. "Alright. Well, anyway, I went to public schools, got picked on for being a 'nerd' or whatever. So then I decided I was pissed and hacked the military system just for the hell of it. Turns out they caught me, had me arrested, figured they could use my skills for special purposes. I couldn't agree more. Since then I've been with the military, it's a rare case that they call on me to hack a system or whatever. But at least I'm not in prison or anything." He shrugged. "That's really all there is to it. Learned how to fight, still hackin' shit, now I'm here, waiting to go against some asshole who's trying to take over the universe or something like that. Don't really care for the details much."

"What about you," Kystal asked, looking at Alexia.

Alexia was a bit hesitant, "Uh, I'm not sure."

"Oh, come on."

With a sigh of her own, Alexia started. "Well, when I was younger I would always get into fights constantly, no matter who it was against. I wasn't your typical little girl by any standards. My dad was an engineer for the military, he worked on the vehicles and such. One day, someone decided to target him. Both of my parents died in a car explosion when I was ten. I used fighting as a way to get rid of the pain from losing them. Then I joined the military because I realized I needed discipline. So there's my little story. Now can we please get ready for this mission? I have a few bones to pick with these bastards, you know, since they kidnapped me, attacked my planet and what not."

"Well, this has been a fun little history lesson about everyone," Falco started, stretching his arms. "but I'm gonna head out and get some rest. Got some flyin' to do, after all."

"Yeah, nice learning about your guys's pasts and everything," Slippy said, following the avian out to the hall.

"Time to train," Cross said, not waisting any time as he left the bridge as well.

The rest of the group had left the bridge as well to prepare for the mission. Some had thoughts of fear, while one had vengeance. The battle would be hard, and the end result, was a mystery. Although the group was outnumbered, they still had a few tricks left. The hours passed on, the group went through the plan, and they descended for the finale of this mission.

***

A red blur dashed through a forest, not even making the slightest bit of noise, until it came to a sudden stop to reveal a dark red vulpine. Cross spotted a group of six purple-clad soldiers walking through the forest, the leader of the group was the only one without a helmet, it was a white tiger, he had a scar which was shaped like a hook, going straight down his forehead and curving in the area between his eyes, he was a bit on the large side in muscular build but nothing Cross couldn't handle. The vulpine's body was perfectly concealed as he had found a bush to hide behind which was, oddly enough, crimson red. The vulpine looked onward to see that the soldiers were making their way back to the large red base, luckily it was a bit far in terms of walking, _"Looks like I get to have some fun."_ The vulpine stalked the soldiers, they weren't even aware of his presence, even in the daylight, he was completely silent, one of the soldiers was trailing behind a bit, Cross smirked. A red blur suddenly shot out at the soldier, not even a scream could escape from the purple armored enemy as he was taken out of sight into a patch of bushes. The leader of the group turned around just in time to see the red flash, the other soldiers mirrored the leader's movement and stopped as well, the white tiger motioned to one of the soldiers by nodding his head in the direction in which he saw the red flash, the soldier obeyed the tiger and left the group to check it out, the soldier went into the bushes, he saw his purple-clad ally lying on the ground with his helmet off, it was a light brown husky, it looked as though the canine's throat had been slashed open by something, he didn't even have to feel for a pulse as it was clear that the husky lying on the ground was dead by the blank look in his eyes, but the soldier noticed something, a small hole in the ground, the soldier carefully walked over to the hole as he pointed his rifle at it, but lowered it as he saw a pair of golden eyes shining in the light, but then the eyes changed to a crimson red, the soldier had no time to react as a red hand shot out at him.

"What's taking him so long?" The white tiger asked himself. The feline's voice was a bit hoarse as he glared in the direction where he saw the red flash, suddenly, a purple-armored body shot from the bushes, slamming into a tree with a sickening impact, the soldier's head snapped back as soon as he hit the tree, the body lay there motionless, his head was tilted at a disgusting angle. The remaining soldiers looked on, although it could not be seen through their helmets, they practically reeked of fear, one of the soldiers decided to run towards the bushes where Cross was, despite the white tiger's shouting for him to stop, the soldier disappeared into the bush. The purple-clad enemy didn't hesitate in firing down the hole, when the soldier was finished with his outburst, he looked up only to see a dark red vulpine hanging upside-down from a branch with a smirk on his face and his arms crossed. The soldier quickly hoisted his rifle to fire at the vulpine and pulled the trigger, but nothing came from the barrel, the soldier had fired all of his shots into the hole, and Cross simply smirked as he flipped off of the branch, landing directly in front of the frightened soldier. The purple enemy attempted to hit Cross with the butt of his rifle, but it was pointless as Cross simply put his left arm up and blocked the attack with ease, while at the same time grabbing the soldier by the throat with his right hand.

"You picked the wrong asshole to side with." Was the only thing Cross said before digging his claws into the soldier's throat and ripping it out, blood spewed onto the vulpine's face as the purple soldier grasped is neck struggling to breathe, but to no avail as he dropped to his knees, after a few seconds, the soldier fell limply onto his back as his life ended. Cross simply looked down at the dead body, and then casually walked out from his hiding place with his hands in the air, the two soldiers and the tiger had pointed their rifles at Cross, they were each standing side-by-side, the red vulpine simply winked at the middle soldier who suddenly pulled a combat knife from the sheath on his waist and slipped it into the opening of the neck area on the soldier to his left, then pulled it out quickly, blood leaked out from the purple-clad soldier's neck. The attacking soldier then pulled off the helmet to reveal the bright orange face of a vixen. The white tiger never even had a chance as Cross was almost immediately standing in front of the feline with a clawed finger at the tiger's neck.

"You will not stop us." The feline said. "Your efforts will be in vain." Cross simply chuckled as he dug his clawed finger a bit deeper into the tiger's neck.

"Is that so, well, either way, you won't be around to see the outcome." The red vulpine suddenly pulled his hand away from the feline's neck, then thrust it forward, shooting it straight through the tiger's stomach, a red hand burst from the tiger's back, through the purple armor. Cross pulled his arm from the cat's stomach, allowing the feline's body to limply fall to the ground, Cross looked down at his blood-dripping arm, then to Zivia.

"We should get going, the other's are probably inside or something." The red vulpine then walked off toward the base.

"Stick to the plan, Cross." Zivia told him. The vulpine turned his head, a smirk showing on the side of his face.

"You know me."He chuckled before dashing the base in a red blur.

Zivia picked up the purple helmet. "Yes, and that's what I'm afraid of." She said before putting the helmet back on and walked to the base as if nothing happened.

_"Why did you take off the helmet only to put it back on seconds later,"_ A familiar voice asked, the vixen instantly knew who it was.

_"Well, Ecks, I wanted to get some fresh air, this damn suit isn't exactly light, or fashionable for that matter,"_ She answered. Zivia heard a chuckle from the blue vulpine as he communicated with her.

_"So, are you still clear on the plan,"_ The vulpine asked.

_"Yeah, but that wonderful brother of yours killed those guys who were with me,"_ Zivia answered, even in her thoughts there was a bit of an irritated tone.

_"Sounds like him." _Ecks paused for a moment. _"Alexia is on her way, it seems this might be a bit easier than we thought, she has drawn attention to herself as planned, you know the rest, see you inside."_ After this, Zivia began to run, she could hear blaster-fire from her right, and a voice as well.

"Wow you guys are slow, I'm barely even breaking a sweat," Good old Alexia, she always knew how to get under someone's skin. A moment later Zivia saw the light grey wolfess run out from the bushes, not even a foot away, the female lupine shot a glance at the armored Zivia before being tackled, the two rolled on the ground for a few seconds before Alexia found herself planted face-down on the ground, with Zivia on top of her, pinning the wolfess's arms behind her back.

"Good timing," Alexia said quietly before two purple-clad soldiers came into view, the female lupine then began to struggle a bit to make it look convincing, but Zivia held Alexia's arms tightly and pulled the blaster from her hip holster as she pressed the barrel to the back of the light grey lupine's head, Alexia stopped struggling and sighed. Zivia looked up at the two soldiers, one of them nodded towards the base, Zivia returned the gesture, nodding at the soldier, Zivia stood up, pulling Alexia up with her, Zivia made sure the keep the barrel of her blaster on the back of the female lupine's head as they began to walk to the base.

***

The small group had made it to the massive red base. The structure had to have stood at least one hundred feet tall, although it was hard to tell, considering how large the trees in the area were as well. Along with that, its width expanded maybe even farther than the eye could see, however, that wouldn't be easy to determine, seeing as how the trees blocked the structure from being seen fully. Nothing on the base stood out, it was completely plain. Not a bad idea, even though it was huge, it wasn't flashy, which is good for not attracting attention. However, it _did_ attract attention, the wrong kind of attention. The lead soldier pulled a small card from an area on his chestplate and placed it into a slot beside the door, a moment later, Zivia felt the ground shake from beneath her as a large area of the red wall before began to lift, the door lifted slowly from the ground as the opening to the base was revealed. The four stepped inside, the inside of the base was blood red, Zivia expected nothing different considering she had been to one of their bases before. The group of four walked down the blood red hall, a few minutes later they came to another door, after it opened, the group entered the massive room filled with more purple-clad soldiers, the was a stage to Zivia's left where she saw Fox, sitting in a chair with his hands tied behind his back and his feet tied to the legs of the chair, one of the soldiers directed Zivia to take Alexia to the chair next to Fox, Zivia did so, and tied the wolfess up in the same manner as Fox.

"Nice job, Zivia," Fox whispered.

"Thanks, she was a bit easier to take down than I thought she would be," Zivia replied, whispering as well.

"Only because I let you," The wolfess cut in. Just then, the lights went out, all except for the one which pointed to the stage at a podium where a microphone was perched on, and a famaliar cloaked vulpine made his way onto the stage, complete silence filled the massive room as the cloaked figure stood before the microphone.

"Comrades, we have captured Fox McCloud," The black vulpine yelled throughout the room, the hollow walls echoing his voice. Every soldier cheered with excitement. "Now, after the 'Hero of Lylat' is dead, there will be nothing to stop our destiny, a new era shall dawn in Lylat. An era controlled by me," Chaos snickered. "Then, the entire universe shall bow to my will!" More cheers erupted fromthe audience of soldiers as Chaos pulled a new blade from the sheath at his waist and walked over to Fox. "Now, it is time," The black vulpine cackled as he drew the blade back, but just as he did this, a white sphere shot from the other side of the massive room, Chaos barely even had a chance to see the sphere before it slammed into his chest, smashing the black vulpine into a wall. Not even a moment after this happened, a large white beam erupted seemingly from now where as and covered an entire line of soldiers, completely disintegrating them. Everyone looked to see who had done this, and they saw a familiar dark blue vulpine floating just above the ground, each soldier aimed their rifle at the vulpine and fired, Ecks vanished just before the red lasers hit him, then a large explosion came near the entrance to the base, and a dark red flash dashed into the room, a few soldiers fell to the ground, blood spurting from every throat. Fox and Alexia had noticed that the ropes on that had bound them were now gone as the red flash shot past them, the two grinned as Zivia removed her helmet, the three of them quickly found cover behind the stage as soldiers had found that they were free.

"This seems to be working perfectly," Fox chuckled. "Three. Two. One." As the vulpine counted down, Krystal emerged beside them, holding a weapon for each. "Right on cue," Fox chuckled again. "So how's it going out there," The light brown vulpine asked as Krystal handed his blaster to him.

"The military is giving their all, it's hard to believe a place like this didn't have a security system," The blue vixen said as she took off the large grenade launcher that was strapped to her back, handing it to Alexia.

"How's Vaughn," The light grey wolfess asked as she took the large weapon from Krystal. Fox peeked his head out and looked to see what was happening, the place had gone from an execution to a warzone as laser fire shot from both sides, he noticed a black lupine with a rifle, taking down multiple purple-armored soldiers left and right with a few well placed shots, each shot smashing into a purple helmet.

"I think he's doing okay," The light-brown vulpine smiled as he turned back around to face the women. "But we're gonna need a plan, we can't just run out there into the middle of the fight."

"I got the perfect idea then," Alexia grinned. The Wolfess pivoted around the corner and fired a shot from the grenade launcher, the grenade landed right in front of three purple-clad soldiers, exploding as it did so.

"Not what I had in mind, but alright," Fox said before running out from behind the stage, the others following his lead. Krystal pulled her staff out and fired a small ball of flames at one of the purple soldiers, hitting him square in the chest, the soldier fell to the ground, a large hole in his chest. Just then Krystal felt herself slammed into a wall, the vixen cringed from the sudden impact, she opened her eyes to see the cold eyes of Chaos as he held her up by the neck.

"Give me the weapon," He demanded, tightening his grip on the cerulean furred vixen's throat.

"You'll have to kill me first," Krystal said as she struggled to escape from the black vulpine's grasp.

"That I can do," Chaos snickered as he unsheathed his blade and held it to the vixen's throat. "It would've been so much easier for you to comply with my wishes, you could've been my servant..." The vulpine leaned in closer, his mouth right next to her ear, "...and what a wondrous servant you would be." The black vulpine whispered before licking the inside of the vixen's ear. Krystal took her chance, quickly pulling her staff from the holster on her hip, she jabbed the blade with the end of her staff, knocking it away, then she quickly shot her left foot straight up, the toe of her boot smashing into the black vulpine's jaw, this caused the grip on the vixen's neck to be released as Chaos stumbled back, Krystal landed and crouched, sweeping at the black vulpine's legs with her staff in the process, Chaos didn't have time to counter this as the vixen's staff swept him from his feet, Krystal followed this up quickly, spinning as she stood, shooting her right leg out, connecting hard with her heel to the black vulpine's chest, sending him crashing to the floor just a few feet away.

"It will be a pleasure to end your life," Chaos said as he stood up, a moment later the black vulpine dashed at Krystal with his sword drawn, he wasn't as fast as Cross, but he would still prove to be a challenge, Krystal raised her staff and blocked the blade as it shot at her, but she couldn't block the fist that shot into her gut, driving the air out of the vixen and lifting her into the air, in one mere second, the black vulpine chucked the vixen at a wall. Krystal closed her eyes waiting for the impact to come, but it didn't, there was no pain, as the cerulean furred vixen opened her eyes, she looked into the emerald gaze of a familiar light brown vulpine, holding her in his arms.

"Can't let you out of my sight," Fox said, it was almost as if he was complaining. The vulpine rolled out of the way as the black fox slammed into the wall, Fox looked back to see the cause of this, and noticed the crimson furred vulpine.

"You two get away from here," Cross shouted. "This is my battle," He growled, Fox and Krystal did so and found some cover behind a few stray metal boxes as the father and son stared each other down.

"I shall give you one last chance to abandon this worthless scum and fight along side me, my son," Chaos said as he stood up, glaring at the short red vulpine.

"No, you are nothing, you are scum, I have no father," The crimson vulpine growled as he took his fighting stance.

"Then it will be my pleasure to end yours," Chaos said with an evil grin. The two vulpines dashed at one another. Cross aimed a swing at Chaos's face, hoping to end the fight in one quick fatal blow. The black vulpine had other plans as he leapt over Cross and dashed out of the base. Cross wasted no time in pursuing the black vulpine into the seemingly endless forest.

As Cross left the base, the battle raged on. Soldiers slaughtering one another, countless bodies falling to the ground, some not falling at all, rather being impaled on a wall or blown to pieces. In any other area, this truly would have been a disturbing sight. But here, in the base, the walls were already red. This was nothing different, just added decoration.

Fox had enough of this, everytime he stuck his head out to see if the coast was clear, it was almost taken off within an instant. "Alright, we have to come up with another plan, just rushing out there isn't going to do anything for us. We should..." The vulpine was cut off as a loud noise erupted from the battle. Fox leaned out to see that a wall had crumbled, in the hole, a small, orange light could be seen. Just then, a large red beam shot from the hole, completely destroying any soldier in its path, whether they be purple armored or Cornerian, it didn't matter, bodies fell everywhere. Some went without a hint of pain, others however, were torn in half or had limbs missing. They wouldn't be saved, only death awaited those who were in the path of the blast.

A large black furred lupine came into view from the hole in the wall, his left leg and right arm were not covered in fur, however, but metal, as was the left side of his neck and face, "I live again," The massive figure said in a low tone.

Kystal reached for her staff, but when she felt nothing, "It's gone!"

***

Ecks floated down the halls of the base, the battle was exhausting, he found it hard to believe that there weren't any of the purple armored soldiers here. It was as if every last soldier was out in the huge room by the entrance to the base. The vulpine was worried for Zivia, but something told him that she was doing just fine. After floating for a few minutes, he came to a large metal door, pentagrams were indented within various areas of the door. It was red, just like the rest of the base. "These guys really need some variety," The vulpine commented. He gathered some energy before ripping the door down with a telekinetic pulse. Then floated in.

"No reason to hide. I sensed you before I even came in here," Just after Ecks said this, a cloaked figure emerged from the shadows. "Mother."

"I see your abilites haven't diminished since our last meeting," The vixen said. "That's good. If there ever was a time for death, it is now." A thin smile crept along her muzzle.

"So tell me, even though you don't approve of father's plans, you will still fight your own son," Ecks shook his head.

"I have committed too many sins. It only seems fitting that my life end by your hand," The vixen took her stance, shifting her left foot backwards a bit. "However, I shall not make this easy."

***

The battle outside was as intense as the one inside. Arwings and purple fighters duking it out in the skies. Slippy and Falco were among the many helping with the fight. Purple aircrafts were dropping like flies, left and right. Of course the occasional Cornerian fighter falling too. But it was clear who would win the battle. Fox and the others just had to do their part.

Cross dashed through the woods. _"This is it,"_ he thought to himself. _"Finally, the time is here. You don't know how long I've been waiting for this day."_ A fierce look in his crimson eyes. After a few minutes of running, Cross stopped in a small open area. Large trees stood around the area, each looked as though it was over one hundred feet tall. The young vulpine looked around. "Stop hiding, come on out and get your ass kicked like a real man."

A figure emerged from behind the trees, just who Cross was hoping for. "If I had known that you would be this much of a bother, I'd have killed you myself." The black vulpine said.

"Well then it's a good thing you don't think this kind of stuff through."

"I beg to differ," Chaos said as he pulled a familiar looking staff from behind his back. "I think it's time to tell you where this weapon came from, since you will be dead soon," He snickered.

Cross's eyes widened. "How did you get that?"

"You must have missed it when I punched her in the stomach. I pulled it from her grasp right before throwing her at the wall. Now, I don't know where this weapon came from. But I created another weapon soon after you and your brother were born. The barrel and the grip. Normally, when these two weapons are put together, it's powerful enough to completely destroy someone. But for some reason, this staff also can be attached. With the three combined, nothing can stop me from accomplishing my greatness," Chaos snickered again.

"Then why did you make Ecks and I into lab rats," Cross growled.

"The 'higher ups' said it would corrupt my mind and make me evil, so they locked it up. Little did they know I had backup plans. You probably don't remember, but after you were completed, I sent you to retrieve the weapon from their little vault. I told you they were threatening to kill me, so you went and retrieved the weapon for 'protection'. Unfortunately, one night you became enraged, and destroyed the weapon. Your brother was having a dream, and within that time he scattered the two parts throughout the universe. How coincidental that both just happened to end up in the Lylat system."

Cross chuckled, "You know, normally I'd be pissed about you using me like that, but I don't think I can hate you more that I already do. So, I say we quit with this bullshit about the past. I wanna kill you so I can get on with my life."

"Too bad you won't have a life to get on with when this day ends." The black vulpine aimed the end of the staff at Cross, and a large ball of flames exploded towards the young vulpine.

***

Alexia looked out from behind her cover. "Didn't we kill that ugly bastard," She asked, crouching back down.

Hax suddenly emerged from the battlefield, finding the group and taking cover with them. "Yeah, but now he's back, and even more of an ugly bastard. It seems he also has some new weaponry too." He poked his head out to take a look at the massive lupine. He looked to the enemy's right arm which, where a hand should be, now had a large barrel at the end of it. "Damn, I want that gun," He added.

"In any case, we need to take him out," Fox stated. "It looks like he could blow all of us to bits in one shot, so rushing him is out of the question," The vulpine said, poking his own head out to see a group of Cornerian soldiers running at the massive foe, only to be completely washed away by the beam. "Yeah, rushing is definitely not an option."

"Then what are we gonna do? I could try to snipe him, but he'd probably spot me before I had a chance to. Then we'd be royally screwed," Zivia told them. "And I don't think that the stuff we did before would work so well this time, he won't fall for any of it again unless he's a complete and total idiot."

"If I had my staff we would have a better chance," Krystal told them. "I should have been more careful," She looked to the ground.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure that even with your staff, that big ass gun of his would still make our shit weak," Hax commented. "But damn, I want that. It's like a freakin' super beam. Badass." The lupine was awe stricken as he crouched back down.

"Yeah well that 'super terrific badass gun will tear us to shreds if we don't think of something quick. So quit drooling over it and help us with a strategy." Alexia smacked the back of Hax's head as if he was a child.

"Oh. Right. Well, uh...I got nothin'."

Alexia sighed, "Sometimes you're so useless," Then she looked back at the others. "Alright, I'll provide a distraction," The light grey wolfess said, cracking her neck as she hoisted the grenade launcher up with one arm onto her shoulder. A grin crept along her muzzle before she darted out into the open. "Hey shithead!" She shouted to the massive lupine. Alexia always liked to take on her opponents when she had their attention, "Got a nice little gift for you," She said softly before firing a grenade at the massive enemy. _"All I gotta do is take out that arm. Who's shit will be weak then?"_

Despite Thrash being huge in size, he still managed to move around much quicker than one would guess as he dove away from the explosion. The lupine landed on his left shoulder and rolled, quickly positioning himself into a crouch, aiming the barrel of his cannon arm directly at the wolfess and firing. A massive red beam erupted from his arm like a small volcano.

Alexia fired a grenade into the air just as the enemy lupine shot his beam of death at her. Luckily she had managed to get out of the way before the beam would have most certainly killed her. She heard an explosion as she rolled. When the wolfess got back to her feet, she smirked a bit. Thrash's arm had been damaged, and it seemed he couldn't fire the beam anymore. A plus for everyone else. "Now what, your arm is gone, and little old me has a grenade launcher. Unless you can move like Cross does, I'd say you're pretty much screwed."

"Dumb bitch. You think this is my only weapon," The massive lupine laughed. "Learn what you're fighting against before running out like a complete idiot." Thrash pulled his free arm from underneath his cloak, holding a blaster. The lupine fired, the laser moving towards Alexia, going straight into her chest.

The wolfess's eyes widened as the steam rose from the hole in her chest. Her fall felt much longer than it should have, it seemed she was looking at the ceiling of the base for the longest time before finally falling to the floor.

Hax saw this, and sighed. "Damn it, Lex. I thought you knew better." He shook his head. "You three, take her, get out. I'll handle this overgrown fuckhead." The lupine stood up, then walked out into the open, he slowly stripped off the belt which consisted of ammo, took the blaster from the holster on his left leg, ejected the battery, and tossed the weapon aside. As he did this, Zivia, Krystal, and Fox took his advice, lifting the limp wolfess to her feet, and heading further into the base.

Fox turned around, looking at Hax. The fire in the lupine's eyes were the only visible aspects of his fury. Fox simply nodded, then left with Krystal and Alexia, further into the base.

"See, you kinda messed up, because, that's my chick," Hax told Thrash. "Sorry, I'm not sure how you guys do it here on your sacred little shithole, but I don't really care for it when someone shoots her." The lupine placed his hands in his pockets. "Come."

***

"Mother, I do not want to fight you. You can still stop and help us end all of this," Ecks pleaded just as Viera teleported in front of him.

"My son, I have done too many wrongs to go back now. I want to die like a warrior, so that I can accept death. It is the only way." The vixen shot her knee up, driving the wind from Ecks, then she shot her palm into his chest, sending the vulpine crashing onto the ground hard.

"Please, mother," Ecks was cut off as he saw a boot coming straight down at his face, he closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. His eyes opened a moment later saw was the blue vixen standing over him, her foot next to his head.

"End my life, in battle, the way a true warrior would," She said, not an ounce of emotion in her voice. The look in her eyes told a story of regret, and pain. Regret, for going along with Chaos's plans, and for not spending time with her children the way she should have. Pain, for watching those children suffer. Suffering through the pain of being used. Suffering through the pain of being tossed aside like trash. Suffering, by never having a true family.

"No, mother. I can't," Ecks' voice cracked, tears forming in his eyes.

The vixen crouched down, placing her hand on his chest. "My son, you must do this. It is too late to go back now." The hood fell from her head, revealing long, voilet hair, with streaks of scarlet running down as well. Her facial features were also revealed. A small white dot sat in the middle of her forehead, white also covered the end of her muzzle.

Ecks stared at her, thinking of what to do. "Mother, it isn't too late. You can help us, and we can end this once and for all." The pressure on his chest from the vixen's hand began to increase.

"No, it is not. I've wanted death for seven years now. Will you grant this request from your mother?" She stayed poised just in case he refused. She didn't want to, but if he wouldn't fight, she had no choice in the matter.

"As you wish," The vulpine closed his eyes and thrust his arms forward, a heavy blast of air shooting up at Veira, slamming into her chest. The vixen was shot into the air, then vanished a moment later. She appeared directly above Ecks again, shooting her foot straight down at his head. The vulpine teleported, just barely dodging the would be killing blow. He appeared just a few feet away from his mother, extending his arm, his palm facing Viera. His paw began to glow white, then, a beam erupted from it.

***

A red figure dashed around the forest, dodging the heavy attacks which destroyed the trees upon contact. The crimson vulpine leapt away once again as Chaos emerged from the wreckage.

"What is the matter? Have you lost your will to fight? I thought you were going to end my life, yet I only see you retreat," The black fox grinned. "Do you run, because you are afraid? Have I imbedded true fear into your mind?"

Cross growled, and dashed at Chaos once again. The black vulpine kept his grin, taking a swipe at Cross with the staff. The red vulpine ducked, then as he came up, shot his foot up at Chaos' jaw. The kick connected, sending the black vulpine flying into the air. Cross took this opportunity to leap up, and sent his fist into his father's stomach, completely taking the wind from him. The crimson fox added to this, grabbing Chaos's throat, and hurling him back at the ground. Dust shot up from the earth as the ground was turned to rubble from the impact.

Cross smirked as he landed on his feet. "C'mon. I thought you were going to end my life. Have you lost your will to fight," He asked mockingly. But just as his sentance ended, a black blur shot from the crater, and a blade shot into Cross's stomach and protruded from his back, dripping with crimson liquid. The vulpine gasped, blood shooting from his mouth, then looked up at the one who held the weapon. Chaos. An arrogant grin on his face. His cloak ripped and torn.

"Yes. You will die," The black vulpine said, spitting out a clot of blood. "Although, I know you can handle more than this. So, I plan to cut off your head. A fitting death to one as pathetic as you," he snickered.

Cross looked from the sword to the one who held it. A smirk appeared on his face. "I wonder how well you'll do without this..." The red vulpine took both hands, and placed them on each side of the blade. He growled a bit, then snapped the blade in half. The red vulpine jumped away, and looked at Chaos. "Yeah, I might die, but I could really give a shit right now. Killing you is all that matters," He then placed a paw on the blade which protruded from his back, and pulled it out, causing a squelching sound and a groan of pain from the vulpine. He looked at the bloody half of the sword, then tossed it aside. "I want to rip you apart with my own hands." The vulpine became a red blur just after saying this, and rushed toward Chaos.

The black vulpine tossed the broken piece of his sword aside, and, still in his other paw was Krystal's staff. He quickly aimed it, and shot a fireball at Cross.

The red vulpine leapt over the attack, his momentum carrying him the distance he needed. His knee shot out, and connected hard with Chaos's chin, lifting the black fox into the air. Cross didn't let up on his assault as he planted a foot on the ground, and shot his hand out, grabbing onto Chaos's ankle, and hurling him toward a tree. The black fox landed with a heavy thud against the wood, and was followed by an even heavier elbow to his stomach, the impact causing the tree trunk to crack a bit. As Cross pulled back his fist for another attack, Chaos slammed his knee into the red vulpine's stomach, causing even more damage to the wound inflicted by the blade. The red vulpine groaned in pain, and couldn't avoid the heavy fist that smashed against his face, sending him tumbling a few feet back.

"Why don't you show me that transformation of yours one last time. I'd like to see you die in that form," He said, pulling out a grip and a barrel shaped piece of metal. "Your friends need to keep track of what they carry around," He added with an evil grin, attaching the grip and barrel to each end of the staff.

Cross stood, blood dripping from his muzzle. He was hunched over. "Sure thing," was all he said as his eyes began to wash over with a crimson like liquid. The vulpine dug his claws into the ground, then looked up to the sky, a bloodthirsty roar erupting from his mouth, powerful enough to send a shiver down even the most fearless warrior's spine, which is exactly what it did to Chaos, despite his grin.

***

As Fox and Krystal helped the injured Alexia through the blood red halls of the base, the lupine had passed out from the pain in her chest. Her breaths were faint, she was beginning to lose feeling in her body. They had found an area for Krystal to start the healing, it was safe, for now, at least. They laid her down gently onto the floor, Krystal put her hands over the wolfess's chest, and they began to glow white. The blue vixen closed her eyes, the procedure would take a bit to fully heal the wolfess. As Kystal concentrated, Fox spotted a soldier down the hall, then looked to the nearest door, only a few feet away. The vulpine ran to it, and noticed a little device beside the door, "Fingerprint scanner. Crap," he said, snapping his fingers, he then looked to Krystal, "Keep with the healing," he told her, disappearing into the shadows. A few moments later, the soldier came across Krystal and Alexia. He immediately aimed his rifle at the cerulean furred vixen's head, but, before he could pull the trigger, an arm wrapped around his chest, and a knife was planted into the small opening between his chestplate and helmet, slitting his throat. Blood poured out, and the soldier fell limply to the floor as Fox emerged from the shadows. The vulpine bent down, grabbed the soldiers paw, and quickly sliced a finger off. "Hope this works." He muttered, walking back over to the door, ignoring the blaring alarms. He placed the finger on the scanner and, to his surprise, the door slid open with a hiss. He heard the sound of multiple boots tapping against the metal floor. He took a moment to count. One. Two. Four of them. Maybe more, were coming their way, and wasted no time in getting Krystal and Alexia into the room, temporarily stalling the healing process. The vulpine ran down the hall, then disappeared into the shadows as he neared the soldiers.

Inside the room, Krystal still concentrated, healing the hole in Alexia's chest. The hole was beginning to regenerate, but the wolfess was still unconscious.

"Do I have guests?"

This broke Krystal's concentration, she looked to where the voice had come from. What she saw, was a tall, white furred female lupine, half naked, wearing only black undergarments, a bra, and panties. An innocent, but afraid look on her face. Her pitch black hair was long, running to her lower back, and perfectly straight. It looked as if it was taken care of every single day, for hours at a time. Every inch of her body was covered in white fur, all except for the tips of her muzzle, tail, fingers, and ears, which were black. But what stood out the most, were the lupine's eyes, her irises bright red, almost like a flare glowing in the darkness. The stare in her eyes gave Krystal an uneasy feeling in her stomach, she couldn't understand why she felt so terrified of this lupine.

"Hello, are you the new guards," the lupine asked, taking a step forward, "and what's going on, I hear a lot of noise," she added, then noticed the door was open. Without even glancing at Krystal, she walked out of the room. The lupine looked down the hall, and heard a faint noise, curious to see what it was, she began to walk toward it, then a purple clad soldier ran past her. Without even noticing, she wrapped her arm around his neck, and then twisted, resulting in a loud crack. The soldier's body fell to the floor, and she continued to walk. She stopped a moment later, looking down, the lupine had stepped in a puddle of red liquid. A small smile crept across her muzzle as she bent down, and dipped her finger into the puddle, letting it sit there for a few moments. She then brought that finger to her lips, and licked the liquid from it. The taste. The glorious taste. How lovely. After the lupine took her finger from her mouth, she smiled, a devious, psychotic smile. The wolfess then took off running down the hall, where she had originally heard the interesting noise.

***

Fox crept within the shadows, staying completely silent. The four soldiers he counted turned the corner, and ran right past him. His eyes widened as they were heading in the direction of the room he had put Krystal and Alexia in. He remembered that he hadn't closed the door. The vulpine took careful aim on the soldier who trailed behind the other three, and pulled the trigger, a green laser blasting from the barrel. Within a heartbeat, the laser went through a small opening between the soldier's helmet and his backplate, penetrating through the back of his neck. As his lifeless body fell to the floor, the remaining three soldiers turned around, wondering what had killed their comrade. One soldier noticed a slight amount of movement within the shadows, and aimed his rifle, the barrel pointing at Fox. As the vulpine, still hidden, aimed his blaster again, he noticed a white furred lupine running at the three soldiers. They obviously heard her footsteps as they turned around, but, just before any could fire, the lupine leapt into the air, and slammed her knee into the visor of a purple clad enemy's helmet, smashing it. The glass, with the added force of the knee, went into the soldier's face, one of the pieces of glass, a rather lengthy one, went directly into his forehead, causing instant death. The lupine landed in a crouch, and looked to the last two soldiers, a smile on her face as she stared them down with her bright red eyes. The lupine brought a finger to the cut on her knee, and wiped the blood from it, then put her finger to her mouth, licking away the red liquid. After taking her finger away, she inhaled deeply.

"So...exhilarating," she said, breathing out. She kept staring at the soldiers. "Are you afraid," she asked. No reply, although one of them did shiver a bit. Without warning, she lunged at the one who shivered, performing a cartwheel as she did so, and before he could raise his rifle, her legs clamped around his neck as she was upside down. The lupine maneuvered her body around the soldier, snapping his neck as she did so. Just as the other soldier raised the barrel of his rifle to her head, a green laser shot from the shadows and shattered his visor, penetrating his forehead. The lupine stood, a curious look in her eyes as she looked to the light chestnut furred vulpine who emerged from the shadows, his blaster drawn, the barrel aimed at her head.

"Who are you," Fox asked, keeping his distance from the strange wolfess.

She put a finger to her lips. "Me," she questioned. "Just a girl looking for a fun time," she answered, still keeping her psychotic grin. "You seem to know your way with that weapon," she said, walking toward the vulpine.

Fox lowered his blaster a bit, still aimed at the lupine, but not at her head. Something was telling him he could trust this one, even though she didn't look very stable. He kept his guard up, just in case she decided to do something unexpected.

"Oh, I know," the lupine suddenly said cheefully as she clapped her hands. "You can help me find my stuff!"

Fox raised an eyebrow. "Your...stuff?"

"Yes, oh how lovely this is! I had almost forgot about my possessions, they had me locked in there for far too long. I wish to taste that glorious liquid again, but not yours," she said, placing her paws on his shoulders, she was a bit taller than he was, and quite the looker. "I will be most greatful if you help me with this task, maybe we can both dine in that beautiful sticky substance." The lupine licked her lips.

"Uh...sure, where do you think your stuff is located," Fox asked, still a bit weary of this woman.

"This way," she called, already a good distance down the hall.

Fox scratched behind his ear, looking back to where he had left Krystal and Alexia then back to the half naked wolfess, she had stopped running and was now looking at the vulpine, her head tilted to the side.

"What's wrong?" The white lupine began to walk towards him.

"Well, you see, I kinda have some friends back there, and I can't abandon them, so why don't we go get them, then get your stuff."

The lupine clapped her hands together. "Oh, goodie! More friends! I can't wait to meet them, would they like to dine as well?" The lupine was already walking off in the direction she came, not caring for an answer.

Fox simply followed behind, shaking his head. _"Why me?"_

After a short time of walking, the two had made their way back to the room where Fox had left his two comrades. He let out a sigh of relief, seeing that the two were unharmed. Well, mostly unharmed, Alexia was still recovering, but at least Krystal had healed the wound in the wolfess's chest.

"Who's your new friend," Krystal asked, looking up at the white lupine, then to Fox.

Fox began to speak, then stopped, placing a paw to his chin in thought. He then looked to the mysterious lupine. "Actually, I never did get your name."

"Katasha." The lupine looked from Krystal, then to Fox. "Now then, if everyone is ready, I want to get my stuff." She took off out the door, not even waiting for a response.

Krystal looked at Fox, who simply shrugged. Then the vulpine walked over to Alexia and picked her up, and slung her over his shoulder. It didn't seem that the wolfess would awaken anytime soon. Fox then nodded at Krystal and walked out of the room, the vixen following close behind.

***

Zivia had left the group to find Ecks a few minutes after the four had entered the crimson halls of the base. Fox and Krystal tried to tell her it would be safer to stay in a group, but she didn't care, she needed to be with him right now.

"This place is so annoying," she said to herself as she walked along the blood red halls. "So stupid. Red, red, and more red. I mean fuck, these idiots can't have anything else other than red, put some white, or black. Hell, even pink would be good." The vixen thought for a moment. "No, forget that, pink would suck, especially mixed in here." After sighing and complaining to herself about the area more, the vixen saw a doorway, but just within that doorwar, lay the door itself. She ventured further, and to her surprise, saw Ecks. She wanted to squeal like a little girl, but something was wrong. The blue vulpine looked serious. "Ecks," Zivia called, but the vulpine didn't hear her. She began to walk closer to the him, but as she did, he vanished.

"Where'd he go," she wondered out loud. The vixen felt something smack hard into the back of her head, forcing her body to fall forward. But as she fell, so did she vanish. She didn't expect to see Ecks lying beneath her, and her on top of him. "What's going on?"

"I'm fighting my mother, you walked in, she hit you," he explained, not paying attention to where his left paw was positioned. Right on Zivia's breast.

"Uh..." The vixen's face was extremely red, but she couldn't bring herself to take his hand away. It felt good, to say the least.

"Hm?" Ecks looked back at the vixen, seeing the red on her face. He raised an eyebrow. "What's the problem?"

"Your hand," she replied with a small flinch, nodding down.

Ecks looked to his hand, then to what it was grasping, he immediately took it away, not daring to look the vixen in the eyes. "Sorry about that."

Zivia sighed a bit. She really didn't want him to take his hand off, but there were more important things right now. She'd have to corner him later. The vixen rolled off of Ecks, allowing him to get up. The two looked around, but then suddenly, a foot slammed against Ecks's chin, sending him up into the air. His attacker, Viera, then vanished, and appeared just above Ecks, slamming her fist down into his back, causing him to fall towards the ground. As this occured, Viera teleported again, and appeared on the ground, sticking her foot high into the air, slamming it into the vulpine's stomach.

The world seemed to have stopped for Ecks, he felt immense pain throughout his entire body. He never even saw Viera coming, she had appeared right before him, that was when it all went downhill. He spat out a clod of blood. He couldn't move, the foot which was jammed into his stomach was causing so much pain. As time seemed to come back, the foot moved, as did he, and slammed him hard into the floor, causing even more damage to his already injured body. He rolled over onto his stomach, using all of his strength to stand up. His breaths were heavy as he looked at Viera.

"You're much better then this, Quelin." She sighed. "You must fight at full strength, or you will die." Her gaze shifted to Zivia. "As will she." Just after this was said, she vanished, and appeared in front of Ecks, aiming a kick at his face. However, this kick was parried, by another leg. Viera looked to see Zivia, blocking her shot. "Somewhat impressive."

Zivia said nothing, the fire in her eyes told everything that needed to be said. In an instant, she dropped down, her right leg still hooked onto Viera's. As the orange vixen dropped, she shot out her left leg, kicking Viera's out from underneath her. Zivia aimed the point of her elbow at the blue vixen's face while she fell, unfortunately, Viera vanished just before the strike could connect, and appeared in her previous spot. Just a few feet from the two.

"Even more impressive. I must admit I didn't see that coming."

Zivia stood up, and took the sniper rifle off of her back. She then stripped the purple armor off as well, leaving her in a silver, skin tight battle suit.

Viera teleported infront of Zivia, aiming a palm thrust for the orange fox's chin. Zivia countered, quickly bringing her forearm up to knock away the blow, while at the same time bringing her other fist around in a hook. The strike brushed against the blue vixen's jaw, causing her to move back a bit. Zivia then quickly spun, crouching, and sweeping her leg out at Viera's feet. But then the blue fox disappeared, Zivia stood back up, and spun, aiming a kick seemingly at nothing. Her heel connected with Viera's muzzle, causing the vixen to stumble back a bit, rubbing her chin.

"I've underestimated you. Quite impressive indeed." The blue vixen took her stance again, "But now that I've seen what you're capable of, I can beat-" The vixen was cut off by a fist to her nose. As she stumbled back, blood leaked from her nostrils, dripping onto the crimson floor.

"You talk _way_ too much." Zivia was shaking her hand, trying to free the sudden numbness from it. "Damn, you have a hard head."

"You little wench. How dare you strike me when I'm speaking!"

"Hey, you shouldn't be talking in the middle of a fight." Zivia shrugged.

"I see. Well then, I'll just have to teach you a little lesson about manners." With that, Viera teleported, just above Zivia. She swung her foot out, landing a heavy kick to the back of the orange fox's head. As Zivia stumbled, Viera had vanished in the middle of a spin, outsretching her leg. She appeared in front of the orange vixen with her heel slamming into Zivia's jaw, the impact causing her to fall onto her back with a thud. The cloaked enemy had vanished, and appeared above Zivia with a boot aimed at her head. Zivia brought her arms up, crossing them in front of her face as her forearms took the blow.

"Interesting. I figured that would have ended you." She pressed her foot down harder.

"The same trick can only work so many times." After saying this, Zivia quickly shot out a leg, striking her opponent's shin, the one she was standing on. This forced Ecks's mother to teleport again, away from Zivia. However, as she appeared, a force impacted her, slamming the vixen into a wall. After falling to the ground, she looked up, seeing her son floating in the air.

"I see you're willing to fight now. Good. I wouldn't have it any other way."

***

"Alright, this is getting boring. You're not gonna beat me with those obvious attacks," Hax said to the fallen behemoth of a wolf. "You see, when you fight, you gotta be more uh...how to put it. You gotta be more unpredictable." The lupine took his stance again, placing both hands in his pockets.

Thrash stood up, "I don't need lessons from someone like you. You're just getting lucky."

Hax raised an eyebrow and grinned. Almost as if saying 'are you kidding me?'.

This infuriated the large lupine as he wasted no time in rushing for another attack. Rearing a fist back and aiming for Hax's face. However, Hax simply grinned at this,and sidestepped, grabbing the bigger wolf's arm and using his own momentum to flip him to the ground. With just a flick of his wrist, the large lupine had been flipped, and landed with a heavy thud on the floor.

"Okay. This is just pathetic. Now, I can understand you falling for it once. But _three_ times? C'mon. Don't be such an idiot." Hax found this rather amusing. Here he was, fighting against someone who could possibly rip him in half, and was treating it like a game.

"You'll regret those words." Thrash stood once again, towering over the lupine.

"Yawn. Wait, what was that? Sorry, kinda busy here, you know, not paying attention." Hax examined his palm absently.

A low growl rumbled from Thrash. He reared back his fist, and shot a right hook at Hax's face. The smaller lupine smirked, and went to flip the large wolf over again. However, after three times of doing so, Thrash expected this, and as Hax grabbed his arm, he threw out a left straight, smashing Hax square in the face, causing him to release his grip. The blow knocked him into he air, and onto his back. The wolf slowly stood up, bleeding profusely from his nose. His eyes watered, not from pain, but from his nose possibly being broken. All it took was just one strike to turn the tides.

"Guess I'm gonna have to be serious now." The wolf wiped the blood from his snout, but it was a futile effort as the red substance just kept pouring out. He looked up to see Thrash charging at him. As soon as the larger wolf was near, he shot his palm up, connecting with the large enemy's chin. As Thrash stood a bit dazed from the strike, Hax pivoted around him, and reached his arms up, wrapping them around the wolf's head. He jumped up, and wrapped his legs around the enemy's waist, pulling him down to the ground. Hax grunted as he tugged on the large wolf's head, trying to snap his neck. However, he caught an elbow to the ribs. A very, powerful elbow, possibly breaking a few ribs. Unfortunately, the strike had caused Hax to release his grip on the large wolf's head. Thrash reached around, and grabbed Hax by his neck, standing up and lifting the wolf with him. He slammed Hax up against a wall, and held him there.

"Now, I'm going to enjoy ripping your limbs from your body. Let's start with the arms." The lupine took hold of Hax's right arm. Thrash's hand was about three times the size of Hax's own, gripping his arm was taking hold of a child's. The massive lupine grinned wickedly as he clenched his fingers around the arm. All it took was a small flick of his wrist to snap Hax's arm. An ear shattering scream of pain erupted from the wolf's muzzle. "I bet it hurts. Now let's move to the other arm." As the half metal wolf reached for Hax's left arm, the smaller lupine raised it up quickly. Thrash was now staring down the barrel of a blaster pistol. One that Hax had picked up just before being slammed into the wall.

"Here's another lesson," Hax said weakly. "Don't talk shit, and don't torture someone in a fight. Especially when they have brains. Like I said before: you messed up." With that, he pulled the trigger. A green laser shot out of the barrel, and penetrated Thrash's skull, right between his eyes, and shot out from the back of his head. The massive lupine fell to his back a moment later, dropping Hax to the ground.

Hax looked to the fallen behemoth, then propped himself up against a wall as he sat. He reached into his side pants pocket, and pulled out a cigarette. "Sorry, Lex. Sometimes there's an occasion for it." He chuckled, then lit the cigarette, taking the first drag and feeling the nicotine enter his lungs. He breathed out, the smoke flowing from his muzzle like a river. "Huh. Forgot it was menthol. Nice."

***

Katasha skipped happily along the halls as she led the group, every so often looking back at them, her gaze mainly focusing on Alexia each time she did. She motioned for Kystal and Fox to stay put as she turned the corner. The two foxes did as she silently suggested. A muffled yelp was heard from around the corner, and then a moment after, Katasha appeared with her cheerful smile. "All clear!"

Fox and Krystal then followed the lupine, each of them draping one of Alexia's arms over their shoulder. The light grey wolfess was still unconscious. Fox then noticed the body on the floor, the body of a purple armored soldier. The visor of his helmet was shattered, the glass stuck inside the poor soul's head. Fox then looked to the white lupine, wondering how someone who acted so innocent and cheerful could kill another within an instant and think nothing of it. He watched as she skipped along without a care in the world, shaking his head at her. Soon enough, they came to a stop, and Katasha turned around, still with that ever so gleeful smile on her face.

"Okay, I think this is where my stuff is. Not sure, but anyway, we're going in there, and if there are any baddies, we kill them." Katasha inched closer to the door, still grinning. For some reason the door wasn't red, rather, it had somewhat of a shade of brown, as if the metal had rusted. It didn't have a palm scanner or anything of the sort. Katasha stepped in front of the door, and it slid open. To her surprise, no one was in the room. "I guess I scared them off," she said with a light giggle as she walked over to a large metal desk positioned against a wall. On this desk, was a black tanktop, light tan hiking shorts, and a pair of hiking boots, just a shade darker than the shorts. But among the more interesting items was a .50 Desert Eagle. Fox's interest was piqued as he carefully let go of Alexia's arm and walked over to the weapon.

"I've seen this before," he said, nodding as Katasha lifted the weapon. "Not many times though, this is the first time seeing one up close."

"My baby. Oh how I've missed you. We've had such good times. Shh, don't worry, you will be killing again soon." Katasha rubbed the pistol with a delicate touch, almost as if it were a child. She picked up a magazine, and shoved it up into the cartridge container. "I know it hurts, don't cry. Mommy's gonna let you burst again."

Fox now had a concerned look on his face as he stared at Katasha. "Wait, that wasn't a battery pack, was it?"

"No. They were bullets, silly!" The lupine poked him on the nose with her finger. "I love leaving a mess." She breathed in, slowly. It was as though she was being pleasured by a lover. The wolfess slipped on the clothing, then slung a strap over her shoulder with a holster at the hip. She holstered the pistol, then looked at the two switchblade knives on the table. "Oh, my precious babies!" She quickly grabbed up the two knives, and kissed them in a very mothering way. "I know, I missed you two. Soon you shall feel flesh again." She bent down, and slipped the switchblades into her hiking boots. "There you go, a nice, safe, warm spot for you."

Fox's eyebrow had raised seemingly on its own accord. He looked back to Krystal, who was tending to the still unconscious Alexia. The vixen was as surprised and shocked as he was. Fox looked back to Katasha, who was now eyeing the three foot long, sheathed katana.

"Hello, love," she said, unsheathing the katana. She stared at its beauty while holding it above her head, then lowered it. "No. No more crying from you. You'll get yours as well, my beautiful blade." The lupine opened her mouth, and licked the blunt end of the katana, moaning lightly as she did so. "The taste is just how I remembered." She resheathed the blade, and as doing so, she gasped. It wasn't a surprised gasp, however. It was more of a pleasured gasp, as if she was about to have an orgasm. She turned back to Fox. "My babies want to kill, but you helped me find my stuff. Oh, such a difficult decision."

"Then shut the fuck up and let me make it for you," Alexia said as her eyes opened. She stood up, glaring at the white lupine. "Stay away from this woman. She's insane."

"Hello, Alexia. Good to see you're awake. I've been _so_ lonely without you." The wolfess reached up, her hand pressing against her breast. She began to massage it, while still keeping her eyes trained on Alexia.

Fox looked to the light grey wolfess, his face twisted into a puzzled expression. "So where do you know her from?"

"There's something I haven't been telling you. I wasn't kidnapped. Well...I was, but I was kidnapped on purpose. I was hand picked to retrieve her, she's wanted for many murder counts. _Many_. So I got the same room with her. Turns out, she's not a half bad fighter. Whipped my ass. We became friends though, in a sense. So now, Katasha Malin, you're under arrest." Alexia took out a pair of handcuffs from her back pocket.

"Lovely story, my darling. How about a kiss, sexy?" This sudden question caught the grey wolfess off guard. and Katasha took her chance. She ran at the light grey wolfess, then she jumped into the air, placing her hand on Alexia's head, leap frogging over her. Alexia was still too stunned from the previous question to react.

Katasha continued her run, jumping, and flipping, towards the end of her flip however, her legs managed to scissor themselves around Fox's neck, and her lower front was pressed to his face. "Oops. Sorry about that, love." She bent down and gave him a quick peck on the top of his head, then jumped off. She hopped over a sitting Krystal and stopped at the door, turning around as she did so. "Tata, my lovelies. Hope to see you again sometime!" With that, the lupine waved to the three with a napkin and let it float to the ground as she ran off.

Alexia shook her head, then began to take off after Katasha. But Fox put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. "She isn't our main concern right now. The only reason we found her is because we were trying to find a safe place for Krys to heal you. We stumbled on her by accident. Don't worry, it's not like she blends into a crowd. She'd be the one killing people."

The wolfess simply growled a bit, then turned back to Fox. "Alright, but there was also something else we have to do. You have the charges?"

"Yeah. Right here." Fox pulled out a remote detonation bomb. Even though it didn't seem like much, this one bomb would be enough to destroy the entire base. "So, let's get on it. According to Slippy's calculations, we're pretty much in the middle, which would probably be the best spot for this." The vulpine set the bomb down slowly, and gently. Then he backed away. "Alright. Let's go find the others and get outta this hell hole." The three of them ran out of the room, back in the direction of where they had left Hax.

***

Zivia slammed hard against the floor after being hit with a telekinetic blast. She coughed a bit, her stomach was taking most of the damage. Luckily she had Ecks with her, meaning that she wouldn't be pounded on constantly. Always a plus. The vixen watched as the two teleported from area to area of the room. She felt useless, to an extent. But then, she remembered about her sniper. The vixen grinned as she took her rifle off of her back, and took aim, looking down the scope. Watching. Waiting. All she needed was one shot.

Viera vanished, then appeared behind Ecks, aiming a straight kick towards his head. He teleported as well, appearing above Viera. A white sphere formed in his paw, and shot down at the vixen. The sphere connected, exploding upon impact as it collided with Viera's chest, causing her to fall towards the ground.

Zivia quickly took note of this, and set her sights on the falling vixen's head. However, just as she pulled the trigger, the blue vixen vanished. Zivia cursed under her breath as she watched the two again. And waited.

Viera appeared in front of Ecks this time, aiming a palm thrust at his face with a bit of added telekinetic pressure. Ecks created a barrier just in time to block the strike. However, his barrier wasn't strong enough to fully withstand the attack as he was shot back, into a wall. As he bounced off the wall, he yelped in pain. Viera appeared in front of him, aiming to land a heavy knee to his face. But, suddenly, she stopped, and looked down to see steam coming from a wound in her stomach. The vixen descended slowly to the ground. Ecks teleported, and appeared beside her. He outstretched his right paw, his palm just a few inches from Viera's face.

"I'm sorry, mother." Tears streamed from the vulpine's eyes as a massive white beam erupted from his paw.

_A young kit was encased in a glass tube, filled with water, looking out at the scientists. Their white lab coats all went down past their knees. He thought they looked rather silly in such things. He was only in a pair of skin tight underpants while he floated in the liquid. His pure white fur was so clean, not even a single mark. Of course it was clean while he was submerged, but even on a regular basis, it remained stainless. He watched the many scientists pass by, although one remained still, watching him with a warm smile._

_"Alright, my son. Are we ready," he asked. It was a black fox, his smile was as warm as the sunny skies themselves._

_The white furred kit simply nodded. A button was pressed, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Until the kit felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head. He grasped onto his head, no matter how much he writhed in pain, it only grew more intense, as if rusty nails were scratching against it. Alarms blared within the room, scientists scurried about in a state of panic. None of them knew what to do. The kit's pure white fur began to turn a navy blue, all except for a white plus sign on his forehead, which began to glow._

_"Get him out of there, now," The black fox screamed, but the alarms only drowned out his voice._

_Finally, the glass broke, seemingly on it's own, and the now blue furred kit spilled out along with the water. He fell out, however, into another's grasp. A warm touch that only a mother could know. The kit immediately returned the hug, wrapping his arms around the figure as rivers of tears ran down his face. The white plus sign on his forehead was still glowing._

_"It's okay, my child," the figure said in a gentle tone, petting the back of the white kit's head softly. "You will never have to go through that again. I promise."_

"Thank you, Quelin," Viera said with a smile as she closed her eyes. A tear ran down her cheek. The beam of energy took over her body. There were nor screams of pain. No cries for help. When the attack was finished, nothing remained.

Ecks fell to his knees, his hands over his eyes as he sobbed. He then felt something grab hold of him, something soft rubbing against his face. He didn't want to open his eyes, for her already knew who held him.

"It's okay, baby," a gentle voice told him, stroking the fur on the back of his neck. "It's all over. We need to leave this place." Ecks nodded, tears continued to stream down his face as he was lifted, his legs wrapped around Zivia's waist, and his arms around her shoulders. The two left the room. There was only one more thing to be taken care of.

***

Chaos dashed away from the beast who chased him. Bloodthirsty roars could be heard throughout the forest. As Chaos ran, his red furred pursuer appeared in front of him. The black vulpine acted quickly, aiming the barrel attached to staff at his son. A burst of flames erupted from it, covering the area in front of him. The blast caused trees and plants all around to be set ablaze. He smirked, but that smirk soon disappeared as he heard a growl from behind him. He turned around just in time to catch a heavy fist to his jaw. The impact sent him flying through the flames and into the trunk of a tree. Before he could react, he felt a pressure against his throat.

"So this is what you've become," the black fox snickered a bit. "I guess my experiments payed off. It's only a matter of time until-" The vulpine was cut off as the pressure increased, causing him to gasp for air. He looked to the one who held his fate, seeing the true essence of rage. His son's fangs were bared, foam dripped from the corners of his mouth as he snarled. Chaos shot out his knee, aiming for the wound in Cross' stomach. His attack connected, but it had no effect on his blood furred opponent. Instead, Cross spun in a circle, pulling Chaos with him. He slammed his father's head into the tree, cracking the bark. Then he threw the black fox to the ground, pressing a foot to his neck.

As Chaos looked up into the full, crimson eyes. He thought of something. "Please, my son. I'll change my ways. I'll change you and your brother back to normal. Anything you wish. Just don't kill me," he begged. He didn't expect this to work, but somehow, he had a feeling that it was.

Cross took his foot off of the black fox's neck, and stepped away. His eyes faded back to their original golden shine. "Do you seriously believe that would work? That shit was so fucking cheesy that I should've crushed your throat right there." The red vulpine shook his head. "If you're gonna beg, then there's no reason to kill you anymore. You're too pathetic to kill." He looked up at the calm skies. The battle up there was over. "Chances are that everything's done. You're finished, all of your soldiers are either dead or captured. You have nothing left." Cross began to walk away, purposely making this mistake. He picked up the staff that Chaos had dropped, then ripped the barrel and the grip from it. He dropped the barrel to the ground and stomped on it, crushing it into oblivion. He then clenched his fingers around the grip, destroying it as well. The pieces fell to the ground.

Chaos stood, a hateful look in his eyes. He charged at the crimson vulpine, quickly snatching the staff from his paws and jamming it into his son's stomach, just after the short fox had turned around. Unfortunately for Chaos, Cross had expected this,and just as the staff was jammed into him, he sunk his teeth into the black fox's throat. Cross pulled back, biting down harder and ripping half of Chaos' neck out.

"Like I said: you're finished," Cross repeated as the black vulpine fell to his back, blood gushing from what used to be his neck. Cross fell to his knees, pulling the staff out from his stomach. He coughed a bit, then rolled onto his back. "Guess it's over for both of us."

He lay there, on the ground, smiling. Smiling at the fact that the fight was finished. His father was dying, slowly, gasping for air. Soon enough, those gasps faded. Cross smirked, showing his left fang. His eyelids began to fall, his eyes now half closed. But then, a figure appeared in his vision. Glowing white. The vulpine chuckled a bit. He already knew who it was.

The battle was finished. Chaos had been defeated along with the rest of his legion. It was all over. Arwings and Cornerian fighters left the planet. As they did so, an explosion rocked the planet, destroying the base completely. However, just before the explosion happened, a small escape pod left, in the opposite direction of the Arwings.

***

_**Author's Note: Okay, this took way too long to update. Eight months, to be exact. Way. Too. Long. So I apologize for the lack of updating. In any case, yes, this is the final chapter, and in my opinion, my greatest chapter as well. The reason I didn't update, is because sadly I lost interest and became lazy for a while there. I didn't show nearly as much dedication as I should have. But I've gotten back into writing, and I'm having fun once again. Constructive critism is welcome, extremely, there is still so much I have yet to learn *Looks at previous chapters, and shudders* XD So, as always, I hope you enjoyed. Also, I hope the fights weren't too confusing. XD**_

_**Wait...what the hell am I doing? TIME TO THANK PEOPLE!!! YUS!**_

_**To all readers: I can't stress enough how grateful I am to you. The fact that you have read this fic and continued reading it from the beginning is a wonderful treat. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.**_

_**notfromearth7: You sir, were one of the first reviewers, and a great author. I've learned a bit from your fight scenes, and built on them. I thank you for critiquing and complementing my fic. And you've been a wonderful friend.**_

_**Skullfox: Another first reviewer, and an amazing author as well. I thank you dearly for reviewing my fic, and supporting me since the beginning. You. Kick. Ass. EVERYONE! GO READ HIS STUFF! IT BE EPIC! GOGOGOGOGO! Now. Or else, you get the smiley face of DOOM! :D**_

_**Pasta Masta: I have enjoyed our conversations that we've had recently. You are one goofy guy. XD But then again, I'm not too far from that myself. In any case, you deserve a thank you just as much as the rest of these people. Believe it or not, conversing with you, talking about other fics and what not, has also helped me get back into the spirit of writing.**_

_**Foxkong, theXbeat08, and JVNemesis: You three...you wonderful, tremendous three. You guys have inspired me, helped me grow, helped me become a better writer. You three helped me so much, and for that, I thank you. Nothing can compare to the friendship I have gained. All three of you, limitless talent, limitless writing ability. Let the epicness flow. You guys are the true driving force behind this fic. All three of you, amazing writers, and even better friends. And FK, I thank you, for even introducing me to such awesome people. **_

_**This, is for all of you.**_

Any success I gain, I take no credit. Instead, I deliver that credit to the ones who have inspired me, for they deserve it far more than myself.

~Metallic Soul


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